Worker-Owned. Lansing-Made. Community-Rooted.
Eastside Compost is a worker-owned cooperative dedicated to keeping food waste out of landfills and building healthy soil in the Lansing area.
Who We Are
We’re a small team of people who believe that how a business is structured matters as much as what it does. Eastside Compost is owned equally by the people who run it — not by outside investors, not by a distant corporation. That means every decision we make is grounded in what’s good for our workers, our customers, and our community.
We started in Lansing. We compost in Lansing. We live here too.
Our Story
Eastside Compost began in 2020, when Mike started collecting food scraps out of his backyard on the east side of Lansing during the pandemic. What started as a solo operation — with considerable help from partner Jill and daughter Zora — grew quickly into something the neighborhood actually wanted.
By 2021 it was an LLC, operating out of a rented plot of Land Bank land on Mifflin Avenue. By 2022, MC came on board, connected through overlapping circles of people who cared about bikes, compost, and building something different. They had dinner, they talked, and a cooperative was born.
In January 2023, Eastside Compost officially became a worker-owned partnership — with Mike and MC as equal co-owners. We use democratic decision-making, cooperative principles, and a genuine belief that there’s a better way to run a business.
Our Values
Worker ownership — we share in the decisions and the outcomes
Local focus — our inputs, our customers, and our compost all stay in the Lansing area
Transparency — straightforward pricing, honest communication
Community — we sponsor the Lansing Bike & Seek and support local partners like the Clean Refillery
