Heather Guidice has always spent a lot of time gardening and
making her own compost. When the creative professional by trade transitioned from
a previous job, putting her sustainability skill to work came naturally.
While in the office, Guidice’s food waste composting hobby
led to interest from co-workers. “Things started appearing on my desk,” Guidice
recalled. “People want to do the right thing.”
By 2019, her hobby morphed into a full-fledged business, Kona Compost Co., which services many communities in Bucks
County.
Kona Compost is inching towards 200 customers – a significant
increase from the 120 regular clients the company serviced in fall 2021
when she began meeting with SCORE Bucks County mentor Rani Martier.
“Right now, I work by myself,” Guidice said. “It’s been so
nice just to have someone to bounce ideas off of and who is able to provide
some guidance and perspective. It’s like having a very part-time business
partner.”
Together, she and Martier discuss strategies to continually
grow the business and with the ultimate goal of having this be Guidice’s
full-time job.
“Part of my mission is to get everyone in Bucks County
composting” Guidice said. “Food scraps are inevitable and anything that was
once alive can be composted.”
Guidice makes it easy to compost, providing five-gallon bins
for everything from food scraps to dead house plants, leaves, egg cartons,
pizza boxes and more. Each customer is provided with a list of items that can
and cannot be composted. For the cost of a few Starbucks coffees per month, a household
can have their compostable materials picked up from their driveway or in front
of their property on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.
From there, collected food scraps are transported to a local
farm where they are processed into compost. Customers can also receive compost
back if they wish.
“It closes the circle,” Guidice said. “It helps them realize
the positive value of their actions.”
The goal is to “reframe people’s relationship with their food
scraps.”
“How do we look at it as a value add, rather than just
something we’re throwing away?” Guidice asked. “Too often, people throw their food
scraps in the trash, destined for the landfill where they don’t decompose. Rather,
they release methane gas, which is fueling our climate crisis.”
Instead, she encourages people to compost the nearly 50
percent of trash that can be composted. In doing so herself, Guidice only puts
trash out once every month or six weeks at home.
Martier lauded Guidice for her environmentally conscious
efforts and for successfully scaling her business.
“Heather Guidice, super
passionate for Mother Earth and our climate, has nurtured her business and
thrives as she acquires new customers along the way,” Martier said. “I
truly enjoy working with Heather.”
About SCORE
Since 1964, SCORE has helped more
than 11 million aspiring entrepreneurs. Each year, SCORE
provides small business mentoring and workshops to more than 375,000
new and growing small businesses.?With 50 members across the
county, SCORE Bucks?County?provides over 1,500 free
mentoring services annually to local small business owners
through one-on-one counseling and small business seminars. To stay up to
date on news and happenings, join SCORE Bucks County’s email list. Text
SCOREBUCKS to 22828.
