What Scrap Soils does

Scrap Soils is a Detroit-based, non-profit composting organization founded in 2020 that operates a weekly food-scrap pickup service for residential households and commercial businesses in the Detroit area. The operating model is a recurring doorstep bucket swap: subscribers receive a 2-gallon or 5-gallon (residential) or 32-gallon (commercial) bucket, fill it during the week, and leave it curbside on Mondays for swap-out, with collected scraps converted into nutrient-rich compost. A volunteer program ("Scrap Pack") with monthly volunteer days supports compost cleanup, canvassing, youth education and administrative tasks, functioning as both an operational workforce and a community outreach engine.

The product surface is organized into residential memberships (monthly and annual, 2-gal and 5-gal tiers), a micro-business membership (five 5-gal buckets weekly), and commercial 32-gallon tiers (x1, x2, x3 weekly pickups, monthly and annual), supplemented by paid bucket add-ons and a branded merchandise line distributed through a third-party storefront (One Custom City). The underlying technology is operational logistics plus a standard self-serve website with eligibility check, subscription checkout, cart, and PayPal/GoFundMe donation flows; no proprietary software, AI/ML components, or API surface is disclosed.

The business model combines subscription recurring revenue from residential and commercial pickups with one-time sign-up fees ($15 residential, $35 commercial/micro-business), charitable donations via PayPal and a GoFundMe vehicle fund, and merchandise sales. Distribution is entirely direct: the website for self-serve residential sign-ups, the online shop for commercial tiers, and direct email/phone contact for higher-volume commercial leads. No third-party resellers, marketplaces, geographic expansion beyond Detroit, or institutional funding rounds are disclosed.

Name

Scrap Soils

Legal name

Scrap Soils

Website

https://scrapsoils.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Detroit-based composting non-profit operating weekly doorstep food-scrap pickup subscriptions for residential households and commercial businesses, converting waste into nutrient-rich compost via a volunteer-supported swap-bucket logistics model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Composting & Food Waste Collection Services

NAICS

Waste Collection (56211), Solid Waste Collection (562111), Compost Manufacturing (325315)

SIC

Refuse Systems (4953)

akta.pro primary industry

Organics (Food/Yard) Collection (Residential & Commercial) (EUAIAAAO)

akta.pro secondary industry

Residential Curbside Organics Programs (Municipal/Franchise) (BPALAEAF)

Keywords

• Food waste pickup
• Composting subscription
• Residential compost collection
• Commercial compost service
• Detroit food scrap diversion

Headquarters

HQ city

Detroit

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Supply Chain, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Residential pickup subscriptions (weekly): Recurring weekly compost pickup subscriptions for households, sold as monthly or annual plans at multiple bucket sizes (2 gal and 5 gal). Includes a one-time sign-up fee per subscription.
2. Commercial pickup subscriptions (weekly): Recurring weekly compost pickup subscriptions for restaurants, grocery stores, offices, events, schools and micro-businesses, tiered by number of 32-gallon buckets (1x, 2x, 3x weekly) and sold monthly or yearly with a one-time sign-up fee.
3. Add-on bucket fees: One-time purchase of additional 2-gallon ($10) or 5-gallon ($15) buckets, added to a customer's subscription cart.
4. Donations (PayPal + GoFundMe): Charitable donations solicited via PayPal Donate button and a GoFundMe campaign (compost vehicle fund) to support mission expansion and equipment purchases.
5. Branded merchandise: Scrap Soils-branded merch (T-shirt, hoodie, tote bag, mug) sold via a third-party storefront at onecustomcity.com.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Scrap Soils provides a weekly doorstep food-scrap pickup subscription service for Detroit households and businesses, organized into Residential Memberships (2-gal and 5-gal buckets) and Commercial Memberships (micro-business and 32-gallon tiers). Collected scraps are converted into nutrient-rich compost, supported by donations, branded merchandise, and a volunteer-driven Scrap Pack community program.

Product overview

Scrap Soils is a single, unified composting service rather than a modular software platform; its offering is centered on a weekly food-waste pickup operation in Detroit, organized into two customer-facing membership lines that share the same swap-bucket logistics. Residential Memberships cover households and are fulfilled via four subscription SKUs (Pick Up – Monthly (2 Gal), Pick Up – Monthly (5 Gal), Pick Up – ANNUAL (2 Gal), and Pick Up – ANNUAL (5 Gal)), while Commercial Memberships serve restaurants, grocery stores, offices, events, and schools and are fulfilled via the Micro-Business Membership plus the 32-gallon weekly Pick Up – Monthly (x1/x2/x3) and Pick Up – Yearly (x3 32-gal buckets weekly) tiers. Both lines are supplemented by the Additional 2 gal bucket fee and Additional 5 gal bucket fee service add-ons, and the program is operationally supported by the Scrap Pack volunteer community program and a branded merchandise storefront that funds the mission.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Scrap Pack: A volunteer group (the "Scrap Pack") working around the city to support sustainable projects, including compost cleanup, canvasing, and administrative roles.

Products and services

• Residential Memberships Weekly doorstep food-scrap pickup membership for Detroit households; subscribers receive a bucket, fill it with food scraps during the week, and place it curbside on pickup day (Mondays) for swap-out into nutrient-rich compost.
• Commercial Memberships Commercial composting pickup membership for restaurants, grocery stores, office spaces, events, schools, and other Detroit businesses seeking recurring high-volume food-waste diversion and zero-waste solutions.
• Micro-Business Membership (five 5-gal buckets weekly) Subscription tier providing five 5-gallon buckets of weekly compost pickup at $60.00/month plus a one-time $35 sign-up fee, targeted at Detroit micro-businesses whose volume sits between residential and full 32-gallon commercial scale.
• Additional 2-gal bucket fee Optional service add-on for residential subscribers to add an extra 2-gallon bucket to their weekly pickup for a one-time $10.00 fee.
• Additional 5-gal bucket fee Optional service add-on for residential subscribers to add an extra 5-gallon bucket to their weekly pickup for a one-time $15.00 fee.
• Scrap Soils Branded Merchandise Scrap Soils-branded apparel and accessories (T-shirt, hoodie, tote bag, ceramic mug) sold through a third-party storefront at onecustomcity.com to support the composting mission.

Quantifiable outcome

• 11 subscription and add-on products offered across residential, micro-business and commercial tiers
• +2 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core (donation acquisition channel), minor (merch distribution) and minor (service vendor).

• PayPalcore (donation acquisition channel)GTM or Marketing PartnerPayPal powers the Scrap Soils homepage donation flow via a hosted PayPal Donate button (hosted_button_id=4AYSHUHDKMDSW). It is the primary digital channel for converting site visitors into one-time donors supporting the compost mission.
• One Custom Cityminor (merch distribution)Channel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorThird-party storefront (onecustomcity.com) hosts the "Scrap Soils Store 2025" collection, reselling Scrap Soils-branded T-shirts, hoodies, tote bags and ceramic mugs.
• Roshiminor (service vendor)OthersCredited in the site footer as "Web Dev & Admin" partner; builds/maintains the Scrap Soils website and admin tooling. LinkedIn profile referenced as docroshi.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Compost Crew: Mid-Atlantic residential and commercial compost collection subscription service with similar bucket-swap logistics and tiered pricing — directly comparable service design to Scrap Soils.
• CompostNow: Subscription-based food-scrap collection service for households and businesses operating across multiple cities — directly comparable DTC motion, bucket-swap logistics, and dual residential/commercial tiering to Scrap Soils.
• Big Reuse: NYC-based non-profit operating food-scrap drop-off and compost production programs with strong volunteer engagement — directly comparable non-profit mission, community volunteer model, and closed-loop compost operation to Scrap Soils.
• Bootstrap Compost: Subscription food-waste pickup service for homes and businesses, also tiered by bucket size and pickup frequency — a near-identical operating model to Scrap Soils, just operating in different geographies.
• Rust Belt Riders: Cleveland-based subscription food-scrap collection and composting service — directly comparable in mission, model, and Midwest post-industrial city context to Scrap Soils.
• Tilth Alliance: Seattle-based non-profit promoting composting and food-waste diversion through community programs and education — closely comparable non-profit mission and community-engagement model to Scrap Soils' Scrap Pack.
• Curbside Compost: Residential and commercial food-waste pickup subscription service in New Jersey — directly comparable subscription logistics and customer profile to Scrap Soils.

Broad incumbents

• Atlas Organics: Organics management company providing food-waste collection and composting services for municipalities and businesses — comparable end-to-end organics value chain (collection to compost), though at materially larger scale.
• Republic Services: Major U.S. environmental services company with organics recycling and food-waste diversion programs — comparable organics-collection capability but as part of a national, multi-stream waste services portfolio.
• Waste Management Inc. Largest U.S. solid waste and organics hauler; offers residential and commercial organics collection services as part of a much broader waste-management portfolio — overlapping service category but vastly larger scale than Scrap Soils.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/scrapsoils
• Facebookfacebook.com/scrapsoils
• Instagraminstagram.com/scrapsoils
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/scrapsoils

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Scrap Soils