Break it Down

What Break it Down does

Break it Down is a privately held commercial composting and recycling pickup service founded in 2009 in Austin, Texas, by Jeff Paine and Melanie MacFarlane. The company provides recurring organic waste and recycling collection to local businesses, multifamily housing communities, and offices, operating 7 days per week across Austin, Waco, and San Antonio in Texas and, more recently, Denver, Colorado through a separate regional entity (Break it Down Colorado). The company's service portfolio includes dedicated composting programs segmented by customer type (multifamily, commercial, office), recycling pickup, and commercial tipping for waste drop-offs.

The underlying technical differentiator is a 2023 partnership with Hungry Giant Recycling, which provides dehydrator equipment that processes organic material from diverse waste streams into finished products such as fertilizers and soil amendments. This capability underpins the Roots Hairchar sub-brand, which converts salon hair waste into soil amendments. The company also operates a small branded merchandise e-commerce shop (BiD Swag). The website and social media presence (@theBiD) serve primarily as content marketing and customer inquiry channels rather than transactional platforms.

The business model is sales-led and subscription-based, with quote-based monthly pricing that is not publicly disclosed. Customer acquisition relies on direct B2B outreach, website inquiry forms, and community referrals anchored by long-tenured clients such as Home Slice pizza (relationship since 2010, now across three locations). The company is founder-owned with no disclosed institutional funding or parent company, and operates with 11–50 employees across four metropolitan service areas.

Name

Break it Down

Legal name

Break it Down

Website

https://breakitdownaustin.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Break it Down is a privately held commercial composting and recycling pickup service founded in 2009 in Austin, Texas, serving local businesses, multifamily housing communities, and offices across Texas and Denver via recurring subscription-based collections and value-added organic waste processing.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Commercial Composting and Recycling Services

NAICS

Solid Waste Collection (562111), Fertilizer and Compost Manufacturing (32531)

SIC

Refuse Systems (4953)

akta.pro primary industry

Commercial Food Waste Programs & On-Site Solutions (Cafeterias, Grocers, Hospitality) (BPALAEAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Organics & Composting Programs (Food Waste, Green Waste) (BPABALAC), Yard Waste, Land Clearing & Green Waste Processing (Mulch/Compost Feedstock) (BPALAEAG)

Keywords

• Commercial composting services
• Recycling pickup services
• Organic waste diversion
• Multifamily composting programs
• Office waste management

Headquarters

HQ city

Austin

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Commercial Composting Services: Recurring pickup and processing services for commercial businesses including restaurants, offices, and multifamily housing communities. Services include dedicated bins, regular 7-day per week pickup schedules, and organic waste diversion from landfills.
2. Recycling Pickup Services: Recycling collection services for local businesses, complementing composting offerings with regular pickup schedules.
3. Commercial Tipping Fees: Fees charged for accepting commercial organic waste at processing facilities, providing additional revenue stream from waste volume.
4. Retail Products (Swag Shop): Online merchandise store selling branded apparel and items.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Break it Down provides commercial composting and recycling pickup services to local businesses, multifamily housing communities, and offices across Austin, Waco, and San Antonio in Texas, as well as Denver, Colorado. The company operates 7-day-per-week collection routes, processes organic waste using dehydration technology (through a partnership with Hungry Giant Recycling) to produce fertilizers and soil amendments, and also accepts commercial tipping drop-offs.

Product overview

Break it Down is a commercial composting and recycling service provider founded in 2009, offering waste diversion solutions for local businesses and multifamily housing communities. The company's core offerings include composting services (with specialized sub-services for multifamily, commercial, and office contexts) and recycling pickup. Additional services include commercial tipping for waste drop-offs and dehydrator-based processing that converts organic materials into fertilizers and soil amendments. The company also offers Roots Hairchar, a hair composting product for salons. All services operate across Austin, Waco, and San Antonio in Texas, and Denver, Colorado.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Roots HairChar: Hair char product line, mentioned in footer as 'ROOTS HAIRCHAR' and in the ROOTS section of the website.

Products and services

• Commercial Composting Composting pickup and processing services for commercial businesses, restaurants, and organizations generating organic waste. Service includes dedicated bins, regular 7-day-per-week pickup schedules, and diversion of organic waste from landfills.
• Multifamily Composting Composting services specifically designed for multifamily residential communities and apartment complexes, providing coordinated organic waste collection across multiple residents and shared living spaces.
• Office Composting Composting solutions for office environments and corporate spaces, providing organic waste collection and diversion for employee cafeterias, kitchens, and workplace sustainability programs.
• Recycling Pickup Services Recycling collection services for local businesses, providing regular pickup schedules on a 7-day-per-week basis and complementing the company's composting offerings for comprehensive waste diversion.
• Commercial Tipping Drop-off service allowing businesses to bring organic waste materials to designated processing facilities for handling, providing an alternative to scheduled pickup and generating transaction-fee revenue from waste volume.
• Roots Hairchar Hair composting product line that transforms hair waste from salons and other sources into soil amendments and fertilizers, leveraging the company's dehydration processing technology partnership with Hungry Giant Recycling.

Quantifiable outcome

• 7-day per week service availability

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Hungry Giant RecyclingcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2023Technology partnership providing dehydrators that enable Break it Down to process organic material from various waste streams into finished products including fertilizers and soil amendments. This partnership expands the company's service capabilities beyond collection to include value-added processing of organic waste.
• Deanna Deshea (Designer)minorOthersGraphic designer providing ongoing creative services since 2018, including 'Compost Y'all' logo designs and website redesigns. When not supporting local businesses' design needs, works as a wildlife photographer.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• CompostNow (now Bonterra): Subscription-based residential and commercial composting and recycling pickup service operating across multiple U.S. metros; most direct comparable to Break it Down's recurring B2B pickup model and target customer segments (businesses, multifamily).
• Bootstrap Compost: Subscription-based commercial and residential composting pickup service in the Pacific Northwest with a similar single-operator-started model and recurring revenue focus, comparable to Break it Down's service offering.
• Atlas Organics: Commercial and residential food waste composting service offering collection and processing across the Mountain West and Texas; competes directly with Break it Down's Texas and Colorado footprint with similar commercial/organics focus.
• Veteran Compost: Commercial and residential composting pickup and processing in the Mid-Atlantic; comparable service stack (collection → compost end-product) and target mix of restaurants and homeowners.
• Rust Belt Riders: Subscription-based commercial composting and recycling collection service operating in Cleveland; matches Break it Down's recurring B2B model and restaurant/multifamily customer profile.
• Black Earth Compost: Commercial and residential curbside composting collection in the Northeast U.S.; competing subscription model with comparable customer mix to Break it Down.
• Food Cycle (Sustainable Sols / Food Cycle NC): Commercial food waste collection services for restaurants and grocers in the Carolinas; explicitly comparable on commercial food waste collection and processing model used by Break it Down.

Broad incumbents

• Casella Waste Systems: Large publicly-traded solid waste and recycling hauler with an organics and resource solutions division; provides broader competitive pressure on regional composters like Break it Down if it chooses to enter Texas/Colorado commercial organics.
• Republic Services: Major national solid waste hauler with a recycling and organics services segment; represents the most likely large-incumbent entrant into commercial organics pickup markets where Break it Down operates.

Others

• ReCollect Systems: Software/platform vendor for municipal and private waste and recycling programs (collection schedules, reminders, route optimization); an enabling technology partner rather than a competitor, but indicative of where commercial composting procurement is moving digitally.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/letsbreakitdown
• Facebookfacebook.com/Letsbreakitdownatx

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Break it Down