Long Branch Man Takes Food Waste From Eateries To Use As Compost

LONG BRANCH, NJ – Taking care of the environment is something that most people try to do on a daily basis.

From cutting down on carbon emissions by driving a hybrid vehicle to simply recycling, everyone does what they can to help Mother Earth.

Some people, however, do more than others. One of those is Mark Davis, a Long Branch resident who is a member of the city's Green Team, which promotes sustainability in Long Branch through green initiatives & educational programs.

Davis was also the manager of the city's community garden, where he discovered the benefits of composting, which is a natural way of recycling organic waste.

To help get more stuff for the city's compost, Davis started picking up the waste from Rook Coffee Roasters. When the community garden closed due to COVID-19, he continued to pick up from Rook and three other Long Branch businesses: Bacon Beach Grille, The Juice Theory, and The Herd Juicery.

"Compost adds an element to the earth that plants like. Finished composts coming from our food scraps are like a special boost to gardens. It has a chemical structure to it that makes it beneficial to gardeners," Davis said to Patch.

"The four businesses know I take their scraps to community gardens around Monmouth County, where they take the scraps and compost them."

One of those food gardens is located at Monmouth University, which supports Davis' efforts.

According to Davis, he has one singular goal for his work in gathering the food scraps from city businesses, and that is for Long Branch to install their food scrap recycling program, like those seen in cities like New York City and San Francisco.

"The reason I do this is to be a model for the city of Long Branch to do a program on their own to pick up food scrap from homes," Davis said.