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CERO COoperative featured in gaia's international zero waste case studies

11/10/2020

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Originally written and published by Global Alliance For Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA)
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© Astudillo/Survival Media Agency/Zero Waste/U.S.
​The word “cero” in spanish means “zero,” and that’s the focus of this composting cooperative in Boston: moving the city towards zero food waste, and building stronger, more equitable communities in the process. The seeds of CERO were first planted at a meeting where local community members gathered to discuss how to improve recycling rates and create good jobs for marginalized communities. At the time Boston had an abysmal recycling and waste diversion rate of under 25%, and according to a 2015 study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, white households had a median wealth of $247,500, and Dominicans and U.S. blacks had a median wealth of close to zero.  CERO sought to combat that economic injustice head on by creating a diverse, bi-lingual worker co-op connected with Boston’s working class and communities of color.

As worker-owner Josefina Luna says, “We started to think[] about green economy. The media talk[ed] all the time about green economy but we didn’t see any green jobs in our community… The first idea [was to] create jobs for the community, create better social development for the minority people, for the people who didn’t have the opportunities.” When the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection enacted a ban in 2014 that prohibits over 1,700 food businesses in the state from disposing of organic material with their trash, CERO was there to provide the solution.

The beauty of CERO is that it creates local “closed loop” systems for food, so that instead of disposing of food waste in dirty landfills that people have to live next to, they ensure that food is recycled back into soil that grows nourishing food for the community. And the model is working. So far the cooperative has prevented 11,867,122 lbs of food waste from going to landfills, and saved their customers $407,570 in trash hauling expenses!

A day in the life of a CERO worker-owner starts early. At 7am, Jonny Santos pulls up to his first customer. ​Jonny is originally from the Dominican Republic and primarily speaks Spanish. Of his work with CERO, Jonny explains, “It’s been 1 year and 5 months since I’ve been with CERO and since I joined the company my life—both personally and economically— has changed. At CERO I feel important and useful."

The first stop for Santos is Mei Mei, a stylish Chinese-American restaurant that uses fresh local ingredients and is dedicated to being a good employer for the Boston community, and preventing as much food waste as possible. Mei Mei is a family business. Meaning “Little Sister,” in Chinese, it is now run by the youngest in the family, Irene Li. From the beginning, the restaurant was on a mission. “For me, I figured that if we were going to be in this tough challenging industry, it would have to be because we were trying to make a difference,” said Li. “We didn’t want to be another average restaurant. A lot of them contribute to a lot of social problems. Can we instead use restaurants as an engine for change?” 

In order to live up to those values, Mei Mei serves farm-to-table food at a reasonable cost, provides employee education and empowerment trainings, and thanks to their partnership with CERO, they are doubling-down on food waste. “When I got my first restaurant job I was pretty horrified by what I saw on a more commercial scale– recycling wasn’t happening, composting definitely wasn’t happening.” So at Mei Mei they make sure to repurpose food scraps (kale stems too tough for salad become a pesto or a perogi filling), donate what they can’t use, provide free or cheap food to employees through a wholesale program, and then whatever is left over goes into CERO’s compost bin.

Mei Mei and CERO’s partnership represents a perfect food loop– Mei Mei sources some of its produce directly from the very same local farms that use compost from its food waste. CERO makes sure that all those onion peels, carrot tops and apple cores that Mei Mei puts in the bin don’t go to waste, but turn into a rich compost to help grow the next crop of local fresh food that land on Mei Mei customers’ plates. Mei Mei’s partnership with CERO not only helps grow a local food economy, but it’s helped them keep their costs down. “Not only is that good from a financial perspective, helps us show that you can buy ingredients selectively and still have manageable costs,” says Li. Not only does it make sense financially, it just feels right. It makes Mei Mei a place where people are proud to work,” says Li. “The world makes it very hard to live in alignment with our values, so if we can offer that in any small number of ways to our team that’s providing them some kind of harmony in their lives.”

After picking up food scraps at Mei Mei it’s time to head to Green City Growers. Founded in 2008, Green City Growers is an edible landscaping and urban farming company converting unused spaces to places where food is grown, revitalizing city landscapes and inspiring self-sufficiency. They install gardens in people’s homes, at restaurants, corporate offices, and grocery stores, and other–sometimes unexpected–urban spaces, like the top of Fenway Park! The company was founded by Jessie Banhazl.

Banhazl wasn’t always an urban farming extraordinaire– before she founded Green City Growers she worked in reality TV, working behind-the-scenes of shows like “Wife Swap”, “Throwdown with Bobby Flay”, and “The Hills.” But Banhazl wanted a more meaningful career, and she realized that to have a sustainable and resilient cities, they need to, quite literally, go green. As Banhazl puts it, “[Green City Growers] creat[es] opportunities to see food growing in spaces where there wasn’t. It’s proven that it’s important for human beings to be around nature, and cities have moved away from that as a priority. We want to get that back into how cities are developed and built.” Green City Growers has a goal to create a regenerative, local food system throughout the country, and their partnership with CERO is an essential part of that system. Not only does CERO collect plant waste from over 100 Green City Growers locations, it also delivers the compost made from that waste for Green City Growers to enrich their soil with. Through its partnership with CERO, GCG has been able to compost 50,000 pounds of plant waste per year.

Green City Growers has a bit of an unusual service model. Banhazl calls it “edible landscaping.” GCG takes care of the maintenance, and their clients get to use the fruit of that labor however they like, whether for their cafeteria, restaurant, or corporate donations. Banhazl estimates that 5,000 pounds of produce a year is donated to food banks. They also provide education programs for both students and seniors, exposing city dwellers of all walks of life to the joys of growing your own food. As Banhazl states, “The intention [of Green City Growers] is to build a business model around sustainable and regenerative agriculture.” They want to change the business culture in the region, so that sustainability “is a priority for how business takes place.”

Next stop is the Daily Table, a non-for-profit grocery store aimed to provide affordable food options to underserved communities in Boston. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. wastes 30-40% of its food supply, and 31% of that food waste comes from retailers and consumers, who cumulatively waste a whopping 133 billion pounds of food per year (as of most recent data from 2010). 

This wastefulness is all the more shocking when paired with the fact that The Daily Table is out to solve the problem of food waste and food insecurity in the Boston area in one elegant solution– collect donated food from growers, manufacturers and retailers, and offer them at discounted prices to lower income communities. However, Daily Table is sometimes not able to distribute all the fresh food before it goes bad. That’s where CERO comes in. CERO collects the leftover food and composts it so that nothing goes to waste.

Waste-conscious businesses like Mei Mei, Green City Growers, and Daily Table show the promise of local, sustainable food systems rooted in social justice and equity. CERO’s role is to connect these efforts together in a loop that prevents waste while creating green jobs, healthy soil, and more vibrant communities. As the city of Boston unveils its Zero Waste Plan– to get the city to 80 percent diversion by 2035 and 90 percent diversion by 2050 from recycling and composting– organizations like CERO are the key not only to reaching these ambitious goals, but transforming Boston into a place where its workers and all its residents can thrive.
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CERO Cooperative Capabilities StatemENT 2020

10/6/2020

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CERO Composting at Democracy Brewing: An Conversation with Founder and Worker-Owner James Rasza

7/28/2020

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Picture Via: Toan Trinh Photography 

A cornerstone of CERO’s identity, besides closing the food loop by recycling food waste at local farms, is our status as a worker-owned cooperative business. Worker-owned cooperatives differ from traditional businesses in that they are owned by the people who work at them, rather than by one or a few wealthy individuals or many shareholders. CERO believes that worker-owned cooperatives are an important part of building greater equity in our economic system. In this model, workers are able to share in any profits a company generates, as well as democratize the decision-making that impacts their daily work. When a business incorporates as a cooperative, its workers also agree to uphold values related to cooperation, mutual aid, and community care. Worker-owned cooperatives strive to support one another in order to build up the cooperative ecosystem in a region, enabling more workers to democratically control their workplaces and participate in profit sharing.

Democracy Brewing is one of the Boston-based, worker-owned cooperatives that, like CERO, has decided that worker-ownership and composting are very important, and thus CERO helped to institute a composting program at the brewery and restaurant since it opened. James Rasza and Jason Taggart founded the brewery in 2018, with the goals of making great beer and empowering the Boston community economically. The Democracy Brewing team passionately believes that ownership should be attainable to all workers. Democracy Brewing strives “to re-create the traditional public house, brew the best beer in Boston, pair it with tasty food, and serve it to you in combination with two great American ideals: democracy, and owning your own business.” CERO had the opportunity to sit down recently with James Rasza, co-founder and worker-owner at Democracy Brewing to discuss the impact of composting with CERO on Democracy Brewing’s operations.
In your own words, what does your business do? 
Democracy Brewing makes great beer and pairs it with tasty food in our large beer hall in downtown Boston. We have beers to go, live music and lots of fundraisers for community organizations.

How does your business generate most of its organic waste? How many pounds of waste per week? 
The brewery is where we generate most of our waste. We generate about 3000 lbs of recyclable organic material per week. Most of this organic material comes from spent grain or malt. We process this grain and malt to get the sugars out and ferment it to make beer. That’s where the majority of our waste comes from.

What were you doing with this organic matter before CERO?
We have always been composting with CERO.

How did you hear about CERO?
Not sure - somewhere in the worker co-op world. Democracy Brewing is also a worker-owned cooperative, meaning that workers have the opportunity to own part of the business and share in the profits the business generates. Worker-owned cooperatives also typically operate with a value system based in cooperation and community care that diverges from traditional business.

How has working with CERO impacted your operations?
We put the barrels out. CERO picks them up and cleans them out. We receive them fresh and ready to go for another day. Then we do it all again. It is simple.

Have there been challenges with working with CERO? 
No. When challenges arise -- like our street is blocked off, for example -- CERO is always willing to work with us to make pick-up happen. Sometimes this means getting creative. They are always willing to partner with us when unexpected things come up.

What do you think would be valuable for other breweries to know about composting?
Composting is an important way that breweries and restaurants can offset their impact on the environment.

Will you give a one-sentence review of CERO’s service?
Working with CERO has been fantastically easy. They are professional and always willing to be flexible and work with us when any inconveniences pop up. It feels great to work with a company that, like us, aims to be true to their mission and accomplish great things for the community.

By Casey Lynch
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How-to: Composting at Home in the Time of COVID-19

7/15/2020

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During this unprecedented time, stay-at-home orders and social distancing have increased the demand for more healthy and self-reliant measures in our homes. These include reducing trips to the store or for takeout food (and waiting in long lines!) in favor of making home-cooked meals and growing gardens. 

We’re also spending as much time as possible out in nature, since that’s one non-tech form of entertainment we have left to enjoy. People are reconnecting with the outdoors, whether by growing a backyard garden, tending window boxes or spending time in shared green spaces like state parks or community gardens. As we use this time to re-establish our connection to the Earth, there is still a nagging question: How can we be more self-sustaining with limited open businesses while under a stay-at-home advisory? How can we nurture the plot of earth that we live on, and that sustains us?       

Creating your own compost from your food scraps is not only a good way to save money and increase self-reliance, but it also is sustainable and Earth-friendly. Composting removes food waste from the landfill waste stream, returns nutrients to the soil and helps remove greenhouse gases from our atmosphere. 

While there are several residential composting programs that pick up food waste (animal by-products included) from your doorstep, you might be wary about a company coming to your house weekly or bi-weekly because of COVID-19 or you simply don’t want to pay a monthly fee. There is always the option to create your own compost pile at home, even if you are short on space.  

Raised metal compost tumblers are the best method to effortlessly compost at home (if you have space and the budget) because they also speed up the decomposition timeline. Note: I live in an urban area and have had pests chew through my plastic compost tumbler within two weeks from set up (although I did break the cardinal rule against adding meat). I have an aunt who lives in the same city and she has had a metal compost tumbler for over 10 years with no issues. **If you are not using a residential composting program that goes to an industrial composting site, I do not recommend putting animal by-products in your at-home compost, even a metal tumbler, unless you want to host pests.**

6 STEPS TO COMPOSTING IN A RAISED COMPOST TUMBLER 

  1. You can purchase a compost tumbler online or at your local garden or big-box store. There is also a handy video of how you can build your compost tumbler for free. Once you have it, place the compost tumbler in a sunny location so that it heats up during the day to speed up the decomposition process. Be sure that when you begin to add material to your compost tumbler, you’ve placed it in its permanent location. It is hard to move once it is full!
  2. To begin, place a scoop of healthy soil, compost or compost accelerator/activator into your tumbler. 
  3. Place 15–30% of carbon-based material (leaves, brown paper bags, yard waste) into the tumbler and 70–85% of nitrogen-based material (coffee grounds, eggshells, food waste;      exclude animal and animal by-product waste).
  4. Fill until only 75% of the way full.
  5. Spin compost tumbler every five to seven days to increase airflow.
  6. After four to eight weeks, you should have a finished compost product ready to use in your garden.
Note: Consider the number of people in your household and how much food waste you create. You should take this into consideration when purchasing your container or making your tumbler, thinking about how many gallons the container should be and whether it should have one or two chambers. A two-chamber compost tumbler will allow you to continue adding food waste even when a pile may be close to finishing its decomposition process, so you will always have a space to recycle your food waste.  

SHORt ON SPACE? TRY VERMICOMPOSTING: COMPOSTING IN A BUCKET WITH WORMS.

  1. Get a 20-gallon non-transparent plastic rectangular bin with a lid. These are sold at your local hardware store or a big-box store. 
  2. Drill evenly-spaced holes with a regular drill bit in the bottom and sides of the bin, usually      about 1 hole per gallon works well, so 20 holes for a 20-gallon bin. Be careful to not put too many holes (which will expose the worms and food waste to too much air) or too few holes (which will suffocate the worms and not allow for aeration of the pile).
  3. Find a strategic place to host your compost pile in a shady area that will not get too much water or sun. Be aware that in an apartment building placing the bin on a balcony may violate fire codes, so find a good location so you will not have to move it once it’s established.
  4. Shred non-glossy paper (like used brown paper shopping bags, cardboard egg cartons or newspaper) as bedding for your worms. Lightly dampen this bedding and maintain its dampness.
  5. Add a small scoop of healthy soil and a scoop of food scraps and let sit for two weeks so microbes that the worms use as food can populate their new home. Lightly water occasionally.
  6. The best worms for your compost bin are red worms, Eisenia fetida. You can find them at your local garden store or bait shop or you can order them online. They should procreate in their new home, so no need to repopulate. These worms are best because they are epigeic, meaning they remain on the top layer of the soil and use the materials there for their food. If you use earthworms, which are anecic (deep burrowing), they will die. 
  7. Add food to your bin! Focus mostly on adding vegetables, fruit, tea bags, coffee grounds, eggshells. Limit citrus, starches (bread, rice, etc.), spicy peppers, onions, oily food and sugary food. Do not add fats, meat, animal by-products, animal food, animal waste or human waste. When you add food, add a little bit of the aforementioned shredded paper and spray with water if needed. Observe how long it takes for a little food to decompose so you can be sure to not add too much water or food. You don’t want to drown or overwhelm your newly created ecosystem.
  8. Harvest your compost! In about eight weeks you will be able to use the compost for your garden. To harvest, get another container and a plastic bag with holes cut in it. Stretch the plastic bag over the new container and dump the original container onto the plastic bag and new container. The worms should try to go through the plastic bag holes to remain in darkness, leaving you to sort through your new compost. Replace the worms in the original bin and start the process over again.
  9. Warning: If you overfeed your bin or if you feed it foods you are not supposed to, then you will notice a proliferation of bugs and bad smells. If you develop fruit flies, place a glass of water with white vinegar and dish soap or fruit fly strips close to your bin. 
  10. Enjoy your flourishing garden with family and friends!
With these tips, you can empower yourself by creating compost soil amendments, reducing food waste traveling to landfills, contributing to a healthier environment and helping you create the best garden, edible backyard or balcony that you can.
This story appeared in the Summer 2020 issue of Edible Boston. 
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Composting in the covid-19 era

7/15/2020

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THE ADVANTAGES OF COMPOSTING IN OUR NEW NORMAL

Organic materials, mostly food waste, make up at least 30% of the trash Americans throw away. When sent to landfills and incinerators, this material breaks down and emits toxic methane, one of the most deadly greenhouse gases. A far better alternative destination for this material is processing facilities.
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Composting is the best way to recycle food waste that will not be eaten by people or animals. It is a process for mixing food waste and other organic materials such as leaves and grass clippings to break down the material and create nutrient-rich compost. When applied to the land, compost replenishes depleted soil and serves as a carbon sponge, sucking up and safely sequestering carbon pollution.


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So why think about this now? Don't we have enough to worry about?
The coronavirus pandemic has awakened many to our vulnerability as human beings. It makes us think more about how to be safe and how to protect ourselves and one another. With less travel and use of fossil fuels to power commercial buildings the cleaner air is strikingly observable. As we begin to come back out and define the new normal, we have a chance to do things differently. 

Composting at home - Since we are cooking at home more we are generating more food scraps. And since we are home we have more time to learn how to compost in the backyard or get set up with one of many companies offering affordable home pickup subscriptions. Many cities and towns are establishing compostable materials drop off sites.

Composting for business - Trash is getting more and more expensive and composting is affordable. Composting is also the right thing to do. When any company starts thinking about reducing waste, the first place to start is with composting. Once groceries, cafeterias and restaurants start to separate and divert organic waste, they see a significant reduction in the amount of trash. The cost savings can easily offset the expense for professional composting services.

We are all eager to get back to business. What better time, as we thoughtfully reopen the economy, to do it in the best, most sustainable way? There are many free resources available to help any business get started composting. If your business is in eastern Mass, CERO Cooperative is the trusted local partner that can make it easy to start recycling food waste.

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Food Waste Recycling at a Large-Scale Food Manufacturer: A Conversation with Arrow Farm’s DiSilva Fruit

6/26/2020

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The US economy is set to change drastically as dialogue and activism around climate justice and the ecological health of our planet enter the mainstream. Massachusetts has already begun important transitional work in multiple ways, notably through its Commercial Food Waste Disposal Ban. The Food Waste Ban, issued in 2014, initially required large-scale food enterprises that produce more than one ton of food waste per week to recycle this waste. It has since been expanded to affect businesses producing one half-ton or more per week. The policy helps our planet and communities by diverting waste from landfills and re-earthing nutrient-rich organic material. CERO recently sat down with Nelly Czajkowski, of DiSilva Fruit, to discuss composting at a large-scale food enterprise.

Nelly serves as the Organic Sales Manager and Quality Assurance Coordinator at DiSilva Fruit in Chelsea, MA. DiSilva Fruit sells organic and conventional fruit on the wholesale market and also re-packages fruit for customers throughout the Northeast. DiSilva is the largest citrus distributor and re-packer in New England. Nelly connected with CERO shortly after the Mass Waste Ban went into effect in 2014. “When the waste ban came out, we thought it was going to be more work,” Nelly said, “But it’s actually not. With the composting set-up from CERO, we don’t really have to reach out. It just goes.” 

Large-scale food enterprises like DiSilva Fruit contribute substantially to the accessibility of fresh produce in Massachusetts, and as a byproduct, also produce organic waste. The Massachusetts Food Waste Ban focuses on such enterprises with a goal of diverting at least 35% of the state’s food waste from incineration and landfill disposal over ten years, resulting in more than 350,000 tons of annual waste diversion. In addition to food processors like DiSilva, many food manufacturers, universities, corporate cafeterias, and breweries are affected by the policy. Fortunately, as the state’s priority for composting has become clear, infrastructure continues to scale around it to support food enterprises looking to make this sustainable transition. CERO Co-operative has played a substantial role, with others, in building this infrastructure in the Greater Boston area. 

A worker-owned cooperative, CERO began servicing organic waste generators in 2014, as the Food Waste Ban went into effect. From experience, CERO recognizes the needs of food enterprises in various industries and works to create a composting plan that suits the needs of each client. Nelly describes CERO’s impact on DiSilva’s operations as “a positive improvement.” She says, “I think that the customer service has been key to us and to the growth of our composting program because CERO has always been very responsive and very flexible in working with us.”

CERO prides itself on providing a clean, convenient service that is responsive to our customers’ evolving needs. We work out of 64-gallon toters, which our team picks up and returns to our customers’ sites clean and lined with biobags. The waste from CERO’s customers is re-earthed at local farms that produce food for the Greater Boston community and beyond. Nelly describes how CERO’s program can help a large-scale fruit and vegetable processor: “CERO provides those big green toters. We really like these because they’re mobile and small enough that we can wheel them around the facility to where we need them. As a result, this helps keep the facility very clean.” 

Large-scale food enterprises like DiSilva are also reaping economic benefits from composting. Businesses in Massachusetts pay some of the highest fees for commercial trash hauling in the nation and composting typically decreases trash volume by 30% to 60%. Moreover, some businesses are able to decrease their purchasing costs by implementing composting. Nelly says of cost savings, “CERO is equivalent to our cost to throw away trash. Our goal was to be able to comply with the Waste Ban, but to have the costs stay on-par with our trash removal costs. Working with the toters and having to clean less, it is possible that we’ve come out a little bit ahead because of the labor cost of cleaning.” Indeed many of CERO’s customers see between 5% and 20% cost savings on waste hauling after implementing composting.

As the 2010-2020 Solid Waste Master Plan -- out of which came the Waste Ban -- draws to a close, CERO anticipates that the organic waste recycling industry in Massachusetts will continue to grow rapidly. As of 2015, it is estimated that only 10% of Massachusetts food waste was being diverted from disposal, meaning that there are still many large-scale food enterprises that stand to benefit from food waste recycling. To see whether your business is affected by the Waste Ban and to receive a free quote, waste assessment, or cost savings analysis for food waste recycling services, please visit CERO’s website. We are confident that large-scale food enterprises like DiSilva Fruit will continue to implement transformational composting programs, building on citizens’ increasingly urgent call for a transition to a regenerative, equitable economy.
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Press Release - Financial Restructuring

6/9/2020

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PictureJosefina Luna, Maya Gaul, Lor Holmes

CERO Cooperative, Inc. (CERO), a Massachusetts worker-owned cooperative corporation, has completed a consensual balance-sheet restructuring with its lenders involving a debt-for-equity swap and other loan modifications.  As a result, CERO has reduced indebtedness by approximately $430,000 and significantly streamlined its capital structure. In connection with the restructuring, CERO also raised approximately $365,000 in new money financing from the Boston Impact Initiative Fund, the Ujima Fund, the Cooperative Fund of New England (CFNE), the Local Enterprise Assistance Fund (LEAF) and other individual investors.  This funding will enable CERO to continue to expand its business and serve the greater Boston community over the coming years. CERO thanks its existing and new investors for their unwavering support, as well as its most valued customers whom CERO has been privileged to continue serving through the current COVID-19 pandemic.
 
The Worker-Owners at CERO are eternally grateful to all who have stood with us and worked collaboratively in a process that took almost a year to complete. 

We extend special thanks and appreciation to our pro bono legal advisors -- Andrew Glantz and the entire team at Ropes & Gray, including Max Silverstein, Ellen Wheeler, Jack Murray, Jacob Sikora, Pam Glazier, Isabelle Farrar and Sara Clevering, for your patient, persistent commitment to getting this done.  We extend a similar thank you to our pro bono financial advisors, Amine Benali and Chris Hunter at LEAF Technical Assistance, for your longstanding partnership, outstanding  technical support and valuable advice.  We also appreciate Carl Valenstein and the entire Morgan Lewis team for providing pro bono legal services to the Boston Impact Initiative Fund and the Ujima Fund in connection with these transactions.

In addition we want to expressly acknowledge certain individuals who share and support our vision -- Dorian Gregory and Maggie Cohn at CFNE, Mark Watson and Pablo Limon at the Boston Impact Initiative Fund, Lucas Turner-Owens and Nia Evans at the Ujima Fund, Josh Glickenhaus and Connor McFarland at LEAF, Elizabeth Killough at Untours, Brendan Martin, Clark Arrington and Ghislain Guiebo at The Working World, Austin Williams at the City of Boston, and individual investors including Libby Cohn, Jude Glaubman, Maria Jobin-Leads, Susan Patz, Kate Poole and Lisa Russell (among others).

More about CERO:

CERO (Cooperative Energy, Recycling, and Organics) is an award-winning commercial composting company based out of Dorchester, MA. CERO provides food waste pickup and diversion services for a wide range of commercial clients in the metro Boston area, and transports compostables to local farms where they are recycled into rich soil products used to support the local agricultural economy. Our mission is simple: keep food waste out of landfills, save money for our clients, and provide good green jobs for Boston’s hard working communities.
CERO was brought to life by a passionate group of black and brown women and men from Boston neighborhoods who believe the way to a more equitable and healthy society must be through a worker-owned solidarity economy. We wish to acknowledge our founders including Josefina Luna, Timothy Hall, Steven Evans, Guadalupe Gonzalez and Evelin Fuentes. Their vision for a better world will always be the light guiding CERO.

More about our investors and advisors:
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The Cooperative Fund of New England (CFNE) is a community development loan fund that has been facilitating socially responsible investing in cooperatives and worker-owned businesses in New England and adjacent communities in New York since 1975. 

“CFNE’s participation in the restructuring fits with our commitment to partnering with cooperatives led by black, brown, immigrant, and low-income entrepreneurs, building wealth in communities historically exploited by financial institutions.  CERO makes sense - worker-owned, cooperative energy, recycling and organics - good for people, good for the planet. CFNE is proud to be a founding supporter of CERO.”

                                                                                                                   - Dorian Gregory, Deputy Director 

The Boston Impact Initiative Fund is focused on economic justice, which means we invest in opportunity for all people—especially those most oppressed or abandoned by our current economic system—to lead a dignified and productive life. We invest integrated capital (equity, debt and grants) in regenerative local enterprises that restore the productive capacity of communities of color in Eastern Massachusetts
The Ujima Fund is managed by Boston Ujima Project, a fiscally sponsored project of the Center for Economic Democracy. Ujima is a Swahili word and the celebrated Kwanzaa principle for “collective work and responsibility.” Boston Ujima Project is building a multi-stakeholder structure that deploys the political and financial capital of Boston’s working class neighborhoods to invest in, purchase from, and advocate for local people-of-color owned firms that build community wealth and create good jobs. The opening of the Ujima Fund in December 2018 marked the launch of the first democratically governed capital fund in the U.S.
Local Enterprise Assistance Fund (LEAF) is a nonprofit community development financial institution (CDFI) that promotes human and economic development by supporting the growth of cooperatives and social enterprises. Based in Boston, LEAF's loan fund provides financing for co-ops nationally. LEAF's technical assistance program offers consulting and capital advisory services to women- and minority-owned enterprises and mission-aligned businesses, such as CERO.

“CERO sits at the intersection of economic inclusion, social equity, and environmental justice. LEAF Technical Assistance is honored to have been part of CERO's journey and is committed to supporting the Green New Deal companies and initiatives of tomorrow.”

                                                                                                                   - Amine Benali, Managing Director

Ropes & Gray is a preeminent global law firm with approximately 1,400 lawyers and legal professionals serving clients in major centers of business, finance, technology and government. The firm has offices in New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Chicago, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul and has consistently been recognized for its leading practices in many areas, including business restructuring, private equity, M&A, finance, asset management, real estate, tax, antitrust, life sciences, health care, intellectual property, litigation and enforcement, and data. Honored with the prestigious Chambers & Partners “Pro Bono Firm of the Year” award, in 2019, Ropes & Gray attorneys and support team members dedicated 172,000 pro bono hours – or 112 hours per average attorney – to pressing humanitarian crises and social challenges at the local, regional, national, and global level.

“CERO’s mission to build stronger and more sustainable communities, while proving the efficacy of a business model that values diversity and local community empowerment, is directly aligned with Ropes & Gray’s core values and our pro bono practice.  We are proud to have worked with CERO and its inspiring leadership through this pivotal period.”

                                                                                                                - Andrew Glantz, Associate Attorney

Morgan Lewis is recognized for exceptional client service, legal innovation, and commitment to its communities. Our global depth reaches across North America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East with the collaboration of more than 2,200 lawyers and specialists who provide elite legal services across industry sectors for multinational corporations to startups around the world.  Morgan Lewis is committed to serving the public good. Each year, our award-winning pro bono practice provides more than 1,800 pro bono clients with the highest possible level of service. In fiscal year 2019, 100% of our eligible lawyers met our 20-hour Pro Bono Challenge, contributing more than 132,000 hours to pro bono representations.

Cumsky & Levin represented The Cooperative Fund of New England in connection with these transactions.

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Composting in the Time of COVID-19

5/18/2020

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CERO Cooperative

Composting is an essential service!  We are on the front lines collecting organic waste throughout the city of Boston and its surrounding areas. With the spread of this new COVID19 virus, different branches of society have collectively been working together from afar to support different members of the community. Through the lens of solidarity, we are inspired to see this happening in Boston. While this pandemic has caused us to retreat into our homes in order to help stop the spread, in a way, it has brought to light the importance of community and connection. The virtual community we are creating is full of information, encouragement, resources and we wanted to do our part to share the compost-friendly cleaning practices we are doing during this time with all of you.

One way everyone can take action during this time is through extra hygiene and cleanliness in the workplace. Sanitation and cleanliness has always been at the center of CERO’s operation when collecting organic material. Now more than ever, it is crucial to pay extra attention to the details. Our truck drivers who pick up organic waste around the Boston area are taking all necessary precautions to keep themselves safe while doing a thorough sanitation of each tote that is picked up. Since our beginnings, we have always made sure cleanliness was a top priority for our composting clients so, after each pickup, the totes would be returned sparkling clean. Now, we are adding even more sanitation measures to ensure that all surfaces are free of unwanted bacteria. As seen in the recent picture taken below, masks, and protective gear are being worn and an anti-virus cleaner is being used to spray each tote after food is brought to local farms for composting. 

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CERO Worker Sanitizing CERO Totes​

Along with essential workers taking extra precautions to keep sanitation a top priority, we know people at home are also looking to find the best practices to keep themselves safe. While there are a lot of resources available online for information, here is a list of five home cleaning practices, along with products that can be used to disinfect different areas in the home that are also safe for composting. We believe knowledge combined with action is the true ingredient for transformative change, especially in a time like this.

5 HOME CLEANING PRACTICES THAT ARE SAFE FOR HOME COMPOST: 
  1. Regularly clean high touch surfaces around your home such as tabletops, doorknobs, light switches, handrails, toilets, etc. 
  2. If a surface is dirty, first clean with soap and water and use any of the following disinfectants to further clean area:
    1. Biodegradable soap and water 
    2. Hydrogen Peroxide
    3. Isopropyl Alcohol (allow to sit on the area for 30 seconds)
  3. Remember to clean and disinfect your car! Areas such as the steering wheel, seatbelts, and car handles are high-risk areas so make sure to wipe your car down when you can. 
  4. Wash your hands regularly for 30 seconds or more and don’t touch your face or mouth. 
  5. Remember to disinfect the mailbox area! 

For more information, we have listed some helpful articles below: 
6 All-Natural Cleaning Products You Can Make At Home
Cleaning and Hygiene Tips to Keep COVID out of Home 

SELF CARE TIPS TO KEEP SPIRITS LIFTED DURING THIS HEAVY TIME: 
  1. Staying virtually connected to family, friends, colleagues, and other support systems can bring fulfillment and a feeling of unity. 
  2. Avoid burnout and overwork at home. Take periodic breaks from the screen to stretch, have some coffee or tea, or anything else that serves as a refreshing treat! 
  3. Meditation, relaxation, and conscious breath-work serve as anecdotes to high levels of stress, fear and anxiety.
  4. Explore the myriad of online content being created, who knows, you might discover something new!

For more information on self-care activities: we have listed some helpful articles below: 
Self-care for Social Workers 
Take Care of Yourself During Pandemic
Protect Mental Health During COVID 19

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New Life for Food Waste: CERO co-op turns scraps into productive compost

2/19/2020

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Originally written and published In EdibleBoston by Michael Floreak.
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Photos by Michael Piazza
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At 5:30 on a Friday morning the Southeast Expressway is still dark, quiet and mostly empty of cars. A half mile away, the warehouse-filled triangle where South Boston, Dorchester and Roxbury converge is already buzzing, rumbling and beeping. Tractor trailers are busy delivering produce, seafood, meat and other provisions that will be distributed to Boston-area grocery stores, restaurants and institutions after the sun comes up.

Tucked into an annex next to a Southampton Street warehouse, workers at food composting cooperative CERO (for Cooperative Energy, Recycling and Organics) are firing up their own small fleet of trucks. They too will soon set out across the region, visiting many of those same businesses. CERO will be there to pick up the food waste that’s left behind—about 8 million pounds a year—and haul it to area farms where it will be turned into compost rather than rot in landfills.
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“Every day we are here doing it, even Saturday,” says Josefina Luna, a worker-owner of the Dorchester-based company. Like everyone at CERO, Luna wears many hats. She is co-founder, the chief financial officer and chief operating officer. At 5:30 in the morning, she is also making sure everything is operating as it should be as drivers begin taking to their trucks.
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“When we started, we had nothing. Today we have four vehicles and 13 employees who make a decent salary,” she says.
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Working hard and creating good jobs for a diverse group of employees has been at the heart of CERO’s business from the beginning. As Luna tells it, the idea for CERO began years ago. The effects of the 2008 recession still lingered and unemployment in the Dorchester area was a problem. As a group of community leaders gathered to consider solutions, a need for jobs met the realization that food waste was not yet a big part of the growing, but still under-realized, green economy.

“So, they thought, ‘Well, why can’t we create jobs for ourselves and also help our community by being a champion for recycling?’” says CERO Sales Director Maya Gaul. A feasibility study showed there was indeed a market for commercial composting. That market received a big boost with implementation of a statewide food waste ban that required large producers of food waste to find alternatives to sending it to the landfill.

As the food waste ban took effect in 2014, CERO signed up its first customer: American Food Basket, a Latin American supermarket with multiple locations in and around Boston. They also put their first (and, for a time, only) truck on the road. Luna shows that truck as she gives a pre-dawn tour. It’s been joined by others: a small truck that handles food waste pickups in narrow New England streets and pair of larger trucks that can haul more than 14 tons at a time. The large trucks can handle up to 30 barrels of food waste collected by clients in green CERO-branded bins.
The composting company’s first customers were most interested in creating jobs and spurring economic development, Luna says. With education offered through CERO, they also strongly embraced the environmental benefits.
“But first was community,” Luna says.
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Early supporters of CERO included nonprofits such as the food retailer Daily Table and the food business incubator Commonwealth Kitchen, both located in Dorchester. Today, CERO serves a diverse set of clients throughout the Boston metro area, from Wellesley to Westwood to Lawrence.
Sales director Gaul says that commercial grocery stores like American Food Basket and Wegmans were early to adopt composting for handling food waste as part of the 2014 ban, followed by microbreweries and large restaurants. Real estate companies that operate buildings where food service is part of the offering are a growing client group for CERO, as are large institutions like MIT and Northeastern University.

CERO’s single largest client is DiSilva Fruit, the biggest wholesaler and re-packager of citrus in New England. DiSilva sends upwards of eight tons of waste a week to CERO.

“They’re repackaging all of these potatoes and onions and lemons and limes and oranges, and sometimes some of them don’t come in well,” Gaul says.

Keeping things clean is one of the most important factors for many CERO clients, according to Gaul. Unlike dumpsters that mix food and other waste, CERO’s bins are regularly cleaned, which clients see as added value. Dozens of collection bins at CERO’s warehouse attest to a commitment to cleanliness. Bins are returned periodically to the warehouse for a thorough cleaning. As Luna gives her tour, she notes that each truck includes water hoses that allow CERO drivers to clean bins on-site.
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Client pickups can happen as often as three times a week, or just once, as at Home.stead Café, a client located in the same Fields Corner building as CERO’s administrative office. Home.stead produces two barrels of compost— mostly coffee grounds and waste from food prep—and just one barrel of trash each week.
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Their waste falls below the threshold required under the food waste ban, but Home.stead co-owner Vivian Girard says reducing waste and composting are important to him and his wife/business partner, Elisa, who live also in the historic Dorchester neighborhood.

“We’re small, but it’s a meaningful amount,” Girard says.

“Spaces like this are really important,” Gaul notes. “Your staff is directly participating in this culture.”

“We’re trying to think a little beyond the cash register,” Girard adds.

Gaul hopes that a wider swath of businesses will come to share this commitment to the environment and thinking about the future.

“I want to popularize sustainability. I want to popularize recycling,” she says.

There are signs that word is getting out. Gaul notes that when she joined CERO in 2015, only a few potential clients contacted her via the website. Most of her work was reaching out to companies to make them aware of the advantages of using a composting service. (The advantages are both environmental and financial. Composting services generally cost less than sending waste to the landfill.) Now, as many as 10 businesses a week contact CERO to find out about composting.

“I think it has to do with the attention that climate change is getting right now as a topic. People are realizing how much our world is changing,” Gaul says.

A desire to help make change happen and be part of something bigger is what brought Gaul to CERO from her previous job at WGBH. Gaul grew up in Egleston Square and wanted to return to Boston after graduating from college. She was working on public relations for a documentary on the Civil Rights movement when she realized that she wanted to be part of making change, not writing about it.

“I thought, ‘Maybe there’s something I can be doing that’s more pressing to frontline issues,’” Gaul remembers. In 2015, a business acquaintance introduced Gaul to Luna. CERO was looking for someone to head up sales and join the co-op as an owner-worker. Gaul decided it was just the sort of frontline opportunity she was looking for. Soon she found herself a part of a small organization with a big mandate. Under CERO’s unique co-op structure, she learned what it meant to be both an owner and worker.

“When I first started, we were so strapped that I was on the trucks. I was cleaning the totes. I was doing all that, and just the act of it was very humbling. But also, I realized what goes into the operations here, how much care we put into it, how much thought goes into that. I think a lot of our clients, they put that same level of detail and care into their own operations,” Gaul says.

Gaul and Luna are among the three current employee-owners of the firm. There are also two emeritus owners and three people on track to become owners. Employees from throughout the company are able to move into an owner track in the small, tight-knit organization.

“We’re not just a business and we’re not a family, but we’re a cooperative business. And that’s very interesting, but also very challenging,” Gaul says. She notes that taking on the challenges of running a business doesn’t appeal to everyone. Some workers decide to move on rather than pursuing ownership. According to Gaul, everyone at the company—owner or not—is paid the same modest salary. She has heard back from some colleagues who have moved on to other jobs saying, “Oh, I didn’t understand the culture of dignity here.”

With its recycling business established and growing, CERO has set its sights next on something bigger: a cooperatively owned facility that generates green energy in Boston. CERO recently submitted a proposal to the Commonwealth to develop the former Boston State Hospital parcel as an anaerobic digester that will convert food into renewable energy in the form of natural gas and electricity. CERO’s proposal is one of several now being considered by the state.
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Gaul sees a highly visible green project like this as one more step on the way to meaningful changes in the community, and beyond. “To me it’s like an echo of the soul. You see these things and you say, ‘This is what I should be doing.’”


This story appeared in the Winter 2020 issue.
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Michael Floreak is a food writer who lives and often eats in Cambridge. His interviews with authors, chefs, writers, food policy experts and other characters from the food world have appeared regularly in the Boston Globe and To Market magazine. Michael holds a Master of Arts in Professional Writing from Carnegie Mellon University and recently completed a Master’s of Liberal Arts in Gastronomy from Boston University. In addition to writing about food, Michael works as a brand strategist and writer. You reach him by email at Michael.Floreak@gmail.com or follow on Twitter: @floreak.

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cero composting at Spaulding hospital

11/6/2019

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CERO started with a mission to provide a high-quality composting service to the local community and to be part of an equitable employee-owned business that cares deeply for its clients. We are proud to say we now have over 70 customers that are dedicated to helping the planet and their business by being sustainable with their food waste. CERO was founded on a simple mission that adhered to this triple bottom line: people, planet and profit. We are lucky to have influential companies partnering with us and joining us in the movement for a sustainable world and economy.
 
One of the companies that CERO is lucky to work with is Spaulding Hospital in Cambridge. Spaulding Hospital offers the “unique ability to meet the complex needs of you, our patients, through medical and rehabilitative care”. With their rehabilitation program, they are committed to giving people hope and care throughout their individual journey. As can be imagined, hospitals tend to generate a large portion of food waste which has traditionally been mixed in with the rest of the trash for incineration. Spaulding Hospital has been composting for a few years now and decided to work with CERO to not only meet their composting needs but also continue giving the community at large hope through environmental stewardship. We wanted to see how their experience with CERO has been, so we decided to interview Thomas Cappuccio, Senior Director of Support Services at Spaulding Hospital in Cambridge. 
 

​How did you hear about CERO? 
 
CERO was not a partner’s approved vendor at first but we were contacted by Maya Gaul, the sales team leader at CERO. One on one marketing from Maya made the deal happen.
Also, freshly cleaned bins were a plus. Maya met with us in January 2017 and the first bins went out shortly after to implement the program. 
 
How were you disposing of food waste before you started working with CERO?
 
Spaulding Cambridge Hospital had been composting for a while. They had already composted for 5 years but had a different system set up. We worked with Save That Stuff for a few years, but more in the summertime. On a number of occasions with composting at STS, sanitation issues became an issue (pests, odor, food being left out, etc.). We think CERO is more sanitary and hands-on [for prevention] which provides a better service. They are great when it comes to cleaning, washing bins and other services they commit to. Maya has been great training the staff to compost. I think it’s a good partnership. 
 
*CERO provides free, multilingual employee training for your whole team, so things run smoothly from Day 1.*

 How much food waste does the hospital generate per week? Where does it come from - cafeteria, shops, etc?
 
Food waste is cafeteria food waste such as scraps, leftovers, etc. There is a 50/50 percentage between patient food and cafeteria food. On average, it is 3,000 pounds a month. The patient’s food needs to fit into their particular diet but at the end of the day it all goes to the same place: compost at local farms. 
 
 Has working with CERO positively impacted your budget? Why?
 
We think CERO is a little less expensive; budget-neutral. It is cheaper than not composting at all, since then food waste would be going out with the regular trash, which is more expensive to dispose of.
 
Have you made other efforts to increase sustainable practices in your business?
 
Spaulding hospital does single-stream recycling throughout the hospital. Cans, bottles, cardboard, paper, grease, batteries, ink cartridges are all included. We are proud to have eliminated styrofoam from the cafeteria for the past year now. Also, we have a partnership with MassRIDES to promote more biking and commuting options. 
 
 What areas have you found it difficult to be environmentally sustainable?
 
It’s an older building, so systems aren’t as efficient but sustainable appliances have been worked on such as lighting and heating/cooling modifications. 
 
What do you like most about working with CERO? What do you wish could be different?
 
The service is pretty standard and I’m happy with it.I haven’t had an issue at all. There is never any surprises that comes across my desk or that my employees bring up to me. In that way, it’s great. It’s pretty seamless. Maya’s been great to work with. I haven’t had any kind of issue with CERO not showing up.
 
One initial issue was the Spaulding  staff was overfilling the totes too much, and Maya asked if they could fill it up ¾ of the way. Quick communication helped to solve that problem and it never happened again.
 
Has working with CERO caused any changes at the hospital that you wouldn't have expected?
 
Not at all, but not in a bad way. Again, it’s pretty seamless.


Introduction and editing by: Karen Urdaneta
Interview by: Olivia Hart
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CERO COMPOSTING AT MEI MEI RESTAuRANT

6/7/2019

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environmental leadership through composting

Mei Mei is a sibling owned restaurant and food catering business in Boston that promises their food to be 'Locally Sourced and Made With Love'.
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CERO has the privilege of working with many great businesses in the Boston area; one of those businesses being Mei Mei. Mei Mei is both a hip restaurant and food truck catering business serving Chinese- American cuisine made with locally and sustainably sourced produce. Mei Mei, which means little sister in Chinese, is inspired by the business’ sibling story: a big brother and two little sisters decided to start a business together that allowed them to share their love of food with the world! I had the honor of meeting and interviewing one of the sisters, Irene Li, to learn about Mei Mei’s composting experience with CERO.

​​When entering the restaurant on Park Drive, guests are greeted by the contemporary design, kind staff, and relaxed aura. This is definitely a place to enjoy lunch with some friends— the morning sunlight was shining through the windows and reflected beautifully on the yellow seats, high ceilings, wooden floors and tables, exposed brick wall, fun chalkboard drawings and cute succulent plants. All the small details really contributed to the space’s bright atmosphere.

Already an impressive environment, Irene, one of the owners, is delightful to meet. She is energetic and  enthusiastic about Mei Mei’s composting experience. She truly had very thoughtful things to say about CERO’s service; here is what she had to share!
How much food waste do you estimate that your business produces each month?
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We have one plastic tote that gets picked up once per week, it is 60 gallons, so 200-300 gallons each month!

What made you consider using a composting program?

Well, we definitely knew we wanted to compost. I have some background with living on a farm, and know that composting is really important for maintaining a healthy ecosystem. We wanted to make sure our food scraps were going towards a good cause. We started using Save that Stuff, but we weren't too fond of using their service. They are a little more corporate, and it seemed that a smaller local business would be more within our values. I met with Jon to see how we could make the pricing work for us, and they were willing to reduce the pick-up pricing in order to help us make the switch.

What were any hurdles that you faced while instituting a composting program and how did you overcome them?

We have composted since the beginning, so it wasn’t really an issue off implementing. I guess one hurdle would be affording and finding compostable products like utensils. When people get take out, they typically bring it home and the products end up in the trash. However, we think that it is the right thing to do no matter what. Biodegradable plastic is technically compostable and biodegradable, but it is not beneficial to the soil, so we switched from compostable cups to recyclable cups, because the biodegradable plastic cups were not helpful to the farmers that CERO works with.

What were you excited or surprised to learn was compostable?
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I guess I already knew a lot about composting as a farm nerd, but hair and any kind of paper kind of struck me as interesting. However, we don’t compost all of the paper as the farmers CERO works with already have enough carbon based products.
How did you hear about CERO? What do you like about the CERO service?

I first heard about CERO when they were in the start up phase, we met at a business pitch event, so we met about five or six years ago. Someone at a local cafe also mentioned how much they enjoyed working with CERO. I really like the level of customer service and I think that has a lot to do with their being a cooperative. Also, they use a plastic biodegradable bag in their totes, and I think that its great that they keep the totes clean, as if they weren't kept clean they could get really gross!

What does CERO’s cooperative business format mean to you as a customer of CERO’s services?

To me, it means that I know that their staff care about the success and the quality of their work in a way that employees of other companies don’t. I think the format of the workers being able to profit and be a part of the local economy is really great. Our company has an open-book financial model, essentially we show all of our financial information to our staff and we try to include our staff in our decision making, so in this way our business is very similar to a cooperative and reflects a lot of the same values as CERO.

Interviewer: aURORA GoodlaNd 
Edited BY: SERGIO SANCHEZ and karen urdaneta 

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 More of MEI MEI

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BIOPLASTICS: NOT AS GREEN AS THEY MIGHT SEEM ​

11/10/2017

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A previously exciting development that falls short in compost performance & practical use

Bioplastics were an exciting alternative to traditional plastics when first introduced to the sustainability and waste diversion market. Because they are produced with minimal fossil fuels and tout full compostability; they were the eco-friendly answer to styrofoam and non-renewable single-use tableware! Bioplastics were exciting.

​Unfortunately, bioplastics were first a disappointment to business owners when they began melting upon contact with hot foods and beverages. The second disappointment came when commercial composters and industrial composting facilities found that many bioplastics didn’t biodegrade as advertised. Even products marked “fully compostable in industrial facilities” took years to break down in 200℉ + industrial compost windrows. They were also deemed incompatible with many anaerobic digestion facilities. So now we have plenty of people asking, “What do I do with this ‘green cup’? Is it really better for the environment? And should I even really be composting it?”

Bioplastics market well, but as we’ve seen, they often do not compost well. The truth is: a cup made out of highly processed corn and biopolymers is not invariably compostable. How the cup, lid or box is produced, in addition to what it’s made out of, determines how well it will break down in a composting environment. We either need higher tech bioplastics that can withstand normal consumer use while also biodegrading at a rate more comparable to raw food waste, or more likely in the short term, we need to be using different products altogether.

You might think “What’s the matter with a little bioplastic mixed in with compost? So what if it takes a longer time to break down. It eventually will, right?” To shed some light on this, let’s look at the composting lifecycle. CERO Cooperative delivers food waste to local compost farms where it is carefully managed, turned, and composted in open-air windrows. Once finished, the compost is used by local farmers and landscaping companies to grow next year’s food and gardens.  The point of composting is to harness the carbon, nitrogen, and other valuable nutrients stored in our food waste, and recycle it into new vegetation rather than have it rot in landfills and generate methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Bioplastics don’t contribute to this goal, as they don’t have any significant nutritional value. Composting them simply dilutes the nutrients from the true food waste, or worse, leads to an ever growing heap of stubborn bioplastics that will not break down and can’t be returned to the earth as promised.

So what’s the solution? Ideally, it is to use reusable, washable cutlery and dishware whenever possible. When this isn’t possible and single-use items must be enlisted, those ‘green’ bioplastics might seem cool, but there are products out there that stand up better to consumer use, and also compost more reliably!

One such product is bagasse. Made from the fibrous material that remains after sugarcane stalks are crushed to extract their juice, it holds up well to higher heats, while breaking down in as little as 3 months at industrial composting facilities. There are many food service products made from bagasse, such as these to-go clamshells.
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We support every effort to reduce the volume of material sent to landfills, but bioplastics in their current form are not the answer to this dilemma. It breaks our zero-waste hearts to see folks buy these products with the best of intentions, only to see their efforts and investment foiled by inferior product performance.

However, there is hope! CERO has worked with schools and restaurants (shout out to The Shady Hill School and Mei Mei, blog post coming later) to successfully make the transition to more affordable, reliable, and truly compostable bagasse and paper products. Better yet, some places have even increased usage of reusable cutlery and dishware (shout out to Equal Exchange Café!).
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If food waste loads contain concentrated amounts of bioplastics, much of it will inevitably be screened out when these products fail to break down in a timely fashion. This does nobody any good: not the consumer, the buyer, nor the composter. Instead, let’s push to prioritize reusables whenever possible! And when it isn’t possible, using products made of reliably compostable paper and bagasse are a much better investment if you really care about going green!

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Martha Stewart Features CERO Coop

7/31/2017

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​Getting Scrappy: A New Life for Food Waste At this Boston company they just love to talk trash -- composting that is!

By Alexandra Lim-Chua Wee

At CERO Cooperative, trash is never really trash. The Massachusetts-based business -- which was recently awarded the Green America’s People & Planet Award -- collects food scraps from local food businesses and turns them into compost. The compost is then delivered to local farms where it can be used to grow fresh produce to be sold and cooked again. 

In Boston, local businesses pay some of the highest rates just to get their trash picked up every day and carried off to landfills. Moreover, for the area’s food businesses, about 65 percent of daily trash collection is compostable. “At the landfills, decomposing food produces the harmful gas, methane, which is then permanently in our air,” says CERO team member, Maya Gaul. “And when you look at food waste as an issue, it is the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world.” 
When they work with CERO, local businesses receive easy-to-use, industrial-grade compost carts that can be placed in kitchens or storerooms for easy food scrap disposal. At the end of each day, these carts are picked up and replaced with clean carts. Not only does this save businesses the higher cost of normal trash pick-ups -- or hefty fines under the state’s 2014 food waste ban -- but it makes for a greener environment. It’s a win-win-win! 

Another win-win is that CERO is a cooperative. The workers equally own and govern the business, and directly profit from their labor. “It’s important to approach sustainability from all perspectives, from the people to the business, to the planet,” Gaul says. “Not only are we helping to reduce methane emissions, but we’re able to provide local green jobs to the community.”

Reposted from www.marthastewart.com June 27, 2017 <http://www.marthastewart.com/1517631/company-food-scraps-compost-farms​ >
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THAnk You For Your Vote!

7/31/2017

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CERO CooP Wins Green America's People AND PLANET BUSINESS AWARD

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Due to the support of our followers, investors, and partners, CERO Cooperative has won the Green America's People and Planet Award. We thank you!
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Green america People Planet Business Award

5/15/2017

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CERO Cooperative turns trash into treasure in Boston. Every week we collect tons of food scraps from local grocery stores and restaurants and, instead of that stuff turning to toxic methane gas in landfills, we make sure it’s turned into rich compost. Then we deliver it back to the community where it is re-earthed to grow more food in gardens and farms. Last season’s food “waste” comes back to our tables as this year’s local crops.

CERO is a finalist for Green America's People & Planet Award. Click here to cast your vote for our cooperative! 

Last summer we had a big party right in the bustling urban center of Boston’s Dudley Square. Folks walked and bike-toured less than a mile to see how CERO Co-op collects material and gets the composted soil over to the Haley House Thornton Street Farm. Then everybody helped harvest eggplant, peppers, and basil and brought the veggies back to Dudley Dough, where we had a giant pizza party with toppings courtesy of the farm. Of course there wasn’t any waste because all of the leftover scraps went right into CERO’s compost bins. This full food loop is the greenest part of growing a robust economy in the heart of the city.

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Imagine a cooperative urban economy where we don’t export waste and we don’t import food. Not only are we doing the right thing for the environment and the planet, we’re showing that it’s possible to create a new circular economy based on closing the food loop. We’re creating good jobs and a cooperative composting community with a business owned by the workers, right where we live.

The whole community got into this movement to grow local food and jobs by putting their money with their values to invest in the CERO start up. Friends and neighbors helpedworker-owners raise the cash to finance their cooperative social venture and now they share in the pride as they see us retrieving compostables and delivering soil in the neighborhood. Together we’re learning that we really can make a profit when we put people and the planet first.
In our urban neighborhoods most folks can’t set up to compost in their own backyards. When you vote for CERO to win the Green People and Planet Business Award we will use the prize money to set up community compost drop off sites at local farmers’ markets. When we make it easy for families to compost their household food scraps we take another step toward helping all Boston residents make the culture shift to be a super-green zero waste city.

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B.GOOD, BE GREAT: 4 WINNING SECRETS FROM BOSTON'S HEALTHY FAST-FOOD PIONEER

10/25/2016

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CERO partner since

Composted

lbs food waste
Mitigated

tons CO2e
Which is equal to taking

cars off the road for a year

​Making it in the restaurant industry is no easy task. According to a study by Ohio University, 80% of new restaurants fail in the first five years. So, what does it take to be in that top 20%? Many food blogs and restaurant gurus will tell you that it's a numbers game: efficiency, planning, and good accounting being paramount. They certainly wouldn't be wrong. However, Boston-based b.good is doing much more than that.

After twelve years of growth, opening their doors at 40 locations (including one in Switzerland) and garnering dozens of awards and accolades, here are some of the ways b.good is setting the new standard for successful, community-focused business.
1. Make the most of your mistakes.
Can you turn your mistakes into opportunities? How about into a farm, on an island? After making a mistake on a catering order for a large summer camp located on Long Island in Boston Harbor, b.good visited the camp to make amends in person. In talking with the camp staff, a vision was formed to use abandoned land on the island to grow food. Just a few months later, b.good is running Hannah Farm on the property and donating 75% of what they grow back to the summer camp and to communities in need. The rest goes back to b.good's restaurants and prep kitchens, where the scraps are picked up to be composted. The finished soil is then delivered back out to Hannah Farm, completing the food loop.
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2. No customers, and no employees.
Instead, b.good affectionately refers to their staff and patrons as "family."  And it's not just talk. The healthy fast-food pioneer treats its family like family should, with surprise gifts of free food through their mobile app, even allowing family to donate gifts to local charities or share with friends.

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2 MILLION POUNDS: What is the impact of your food waste?

10/6/2016

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SO FAR...

CERO has diverted

pounds of food waste from landfills
Which is equal to taking

cars off the road for a year

Wahoo! Earlier this week, CERO composted it's two millionth pound of food waste. With nearly three months still to go in 2016, we've diverted more than 150% of what we did in all of 2015. The road to this point has been full of challenges, and we are both thrilled and proud to hit this milestone. We couldn't have done it without our incredible partners like America's Food Basket, Wegmans, Dudley Dough, Daily Table, Tropical Foods, DiSilva Fruit, b.good, The Frogmore, Fairsted Kitchen, Boston Public Market and countless others. Y'all are rockstars.
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According to a 2015 UW-Madison study, landfilling one ton of food waste results in the emission of 0.71 tons CO2e. This is due mostly to methane emissions that are produced when food waste is buried and forced to break down under anaerobic conditions (no oxygen). On the other hand, composting a ton of food waste results in a net reduction of 0.24 tons CO2e, due to carbon sequestration. This means that for every pound of food waste composted, we are effectively putting carbon back into the ground. It sounds too good to be true, but nature has been doing it for millions of years!

​When food breaks down under natural conditions, the nutrients are returned to the soil to be used by future plants. This creates a sustainable cycling of nutrients, which is what CERO strives to do. This is in direct opposition to landfilling, which leaves these nutrients stranded and sealed underground, never to be returned to the natural environment or cycled into new plants.

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CERO | People, Planet, and Community Profit

9/21/2016

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Welcome to the CERO Cooperative blog! Every day, we choose to celebrate the earth and its people through action and education to support our environment, and the environment of tomorrow. CERO is a cooperative composter, and one thing that makes us special is that we incorporate environmental education into our services by offering free composting trainings to our partner businesses. As CERO continues to grow, we would like our readers to understand our roots, and the core principles that guide us.

CERO started as a collaboration between Boston’s Black and Latino members of Mass Coalition for Occupational Safety & Health (MassCOSH) and The Boston Worker’s Alliance (BWA) to form a green business that takes into account the needs of our diverse communities, while providing a level of service that is unmatched in the composting and waste hauling space. CERO worker-owners organized around cooperatives, worker’s rights, and spread knowledge about composting in Roxbury and Dorchester as a cost-saving and sustainable alternative to the status quo.


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