Let it Rot is a community compost and worm farming business established in 2015 with a grant from the Kenan Social Entrepreneurship Foundation.  We collect residental kitchen waste and use it to feed our worms and generate soil.  

In April of 2022, we received a phone call from the Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach. They demanded we show them Squirmy Headquarters, insisted we pay them to be a regulated waste and sanitation business and then told us we must cease all operations in Palm Beach County. We were informed composting of organic waste is entirely illegal in ONLY Palm Beach County due to a privilege that the SWA has called the Flow Code. 

When the Waste to Energy facility was funded here in Palm Beach County the Solid Waste Authority was given the right to write the laws surrounding waste collection and processing. According to Rule V section 6 part 1 of the Solid Waste Collection and Disposal Rule "All Solid Waste generated in the County is the property of the Authority, and must be delivered to an Authority Solid Waste Management Facility, or a Designated Disposal Facility". This means residents do not have a say in how their trash is processed but are forced to feed our incinerators which is where all organic waste is sent to currently.  However, Let it Rot should be exempt from regulation as according to state law Chapter 62-709 Criteria for Organics Processing and Recycling Facilities, section 305 Exemptions part (3) "Composting of solid waste generated on-site or off-site, when there is no more than 100 cubic yards on site at any one time of solid waste to be composted or undergoing the composting process and finished compost being stored for use." With my annual impact anticipated to be a little of 50,000 pounds of organic waste diverted from the landfill, my overall impact represents .00000001666% of the SWA’s overall impact between their 2 REF facilities and the posted impact according to their Landfill Depletion Model (swa.org).This means Let it Rot should be exempt from any permitting or registration. 

Let it Rot has and always will be an Agriculture business, using vermiculture techniques to generate worm castings by feeding organic waste to worms. We don't even view the waste we use was waste but instead it is a feedstock for our livestock, the worms. 

Laws need to change here to give residents in Palm Beach County a choice when it comes to their organic waste and how it is processed.  Residents of Palm Beach County want the option to compost their organic waste instead of being forced to burn it.  Please sign this petition to show Palm Beach County regulators laws need to change to allow residents to chose how their organic waste is processed and allow composting - even if only on a community scale, to take place here. 

Our gofundme: https://gofund.me/6c656751