Sign In
Welcome! Sign In to personalize your Cat.com experience
If you already have an existing account with another Cat App, you can use the same account to sign in here
Register Now
One Account. All of Cat.
Your Caterpillar account is the single account you use to log in to select services and applications we offer. Shop for parts and machines online, manage your fleet, go mobile, and more.
Account Information
Site Settings
Security
Why Add Composting to Your Landscape Business?
John Janes | Landscaping Marketing Manager
As business owners know, it’s important to stay agile and be financially savvy in order to run a successful operation. One way to do that? Diversify your offerings. And for landscapers, compost might be the perfect solution.
“We have many members who started out as landscapers but began a composting facility when they realized that they a) could use the material they were sending to the landfill for their own commercial uses, b) there was a revenue stream left on the table, or c) they wanted to be part of a movement to build healthy soil,” said Linda Norris Waldt of the U.S. Composting Council.
Landscape Composting Can Add a Revenue Stream
For many landscapers, composting makes sense given that their landscaping job sites already provide the raw materials for composting. Things like trees, leaves, and grass clippings can be broken down and serve as the basis for compost instead of being sent to a landfill. Offering composting as a service with your landscape business can help you bring in additional revenue that you would otherwise be missing out on.
Landscape Composting Helps You Be More Sustainable
Another benefit of composting is that it can help your landscape business be more sustainable. If you want to fertilize the soil on your landscape job sites, you have two options: either spend money at the chemical supply store; or, use compost that you’ve made yourself. Compost actually helps improve the health of the soil and encourages plant growth by giving plants added nutrients. Using your own compost also helps cut down on unnecessary costs, especially if you’re able to monetize the composting portion of your business.
Repurposing Your Equipment for Landscape Composting
If you’re looking to get started with composting, you can often work with equipment you already have in order to do so. Smaller operations can use a skid steer loader with a mulcher to grind raw material into the small pieces needed to begin composting, then switch to a light material bucket to move this matter to the composting pile. For medium to large composting operations, compact, small, and medium wheel loaders are often used in the composting process.
However, make sure you get the proper training before you add composting to your business mix.
“Many landscapers realize they don’t quite know the right recipe in order to avoid odor issues,” said Linda. The USCC offers composting training courses as well as resources for how to look up your state’s composting regulations.
Visit https://www.cat.com/landscaping for more information to help your landscaping business.
John Janes
Landscaping Marketing Manager
John Janes has been bringing his diversified expertise to sales and marketing initiatives at Caterpillar for more than a decade. Not only does he hold an LIC certification from the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP), CSP and ASM certifications from the Snow & Ice Management Association (SIMA), but Janes also serves as an American Concrete Institute (ACI)-certified concrete flatwork technician.
RELATED ARTICLES
You’re here to get ideas to grow your business. Read on for machine insights and expert tips and tricks to get more out of every job.
-
Certified Aquascape Contractors
Learn how to expand your landscape business’s services with water feature installations. Partnering with Aquascape Inc. to become a Certified Aquascape Contractor (CAC) opens up a valuable range of business opportunities.
Learn More -
Creating A Video Content Marketing Plan
Landscape business owner, Tom Gardocki, shares how you can use a video content marketing plan to help your business grow.
Learn More -
Solutions for Landscaping Labor Shortages
If landscaping labor shortages are impacting your business, look to Caterpillar for practical solutions to keep your business running strong.
Learn More -
Community Service in the Landscape Industry
The benefits of community service for a business are about much more than the bottom line. More and more these days, your customers are actively searching for companies that make social responsibility a part of their values. It's also just the right thing to do.
Learn More
