Our goal is to try and reduce perfectly-good compost materials, such as food scraps, from going to the Kekaha landfill. We also encourage the reduction and recycling of paper, cardboard, and green waste too.

 

Compost is an art and science that requires time, land/space, and quite often, an iron stomach, especially when it comes to the decomposing phases of food scraps. Compost Kauai wants to make it easier for everyone to compost. We see our business as a logistics and cleaning service that creates a useful end product for our Members. We strive to provide the best service and membership satisfaction for our community.

 

The following terms are meant to help us meet those goals and ensure that we are all on the same page. Please read below and let us know if you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions by emailing us at aloha@compostkauai.org.

 

1. Who

Starting on the day of your first payment the following written obligations and responsibilities will be effective between Compost Kauai (CK) and Member receiving service (a.k.a. “you”). You may have signed up with us face-to-face, online, at the farmers market, or by a friend or family member gifting you our service.

 

Pick-Up Service Members are those who have signed up for our curbside service in Kapaa, Kapahi and Wailua.

 

Drop Off Members are those who have signed up for our Lihue or Kilauea drop off service.

 

2. Compost Kauai’s responsibilities

CK will provide different services for our pick-up and drop off Members.

1. For Pick-Up Service Members:

1. The day we provide service for your compost bucket is our weekly “pick-up” or “service” day. Your specific service day is outlined in your Welcome email.

2. A five-gallon Compost Kauai bucket will be dropped off on the next service day for your service area. If you signed up face-to-face with our staff you may have received your bucket immediately. Your bucket will include a paper Welcome packet.

3. Every week on your service day, CK will swap the filled compost bucket and leave a clean bucket in its place. Our service day hours are between 9am-6pm. Any changes will be updated through our email or texting system. Pick-up times are subject to change depending on weather, road conditions, traffic, holidays, or operational issues. We will try our best to deliver these messages in advance.

4. Free compost can be requested by members through the online Member’s Portal. We deliver compost to members who request it. It is delivered the first week of every quarter (every three months).

5. Members receive a 30% discount off compost products in our online store.

6. Members who request compost in the Member’s Portal will receive their free compost in one of our recycled cotton t-shirt bags, as follows:

1. Do Gooders Plan - 1 bucket/week = 1 gallon of finished compost/month; 3 gallons of finished compost/quarter

2. The Influencers Plan - 2 buckets/week = 2 gallons of finished compost/month; 6 gallons of finished compost/quarter

3. Scrapaholics Plan - 3 buckets/week = 3 gallons of finished compost/month; 9 gallons of finished compost/quarter

4. Small business Plan - 4+ buckets = 3 gallons of finished compost/month; 9 gallons of finished compost/quarter

1. Members must request compost each quarter in the Member’s Portal to receive their free allotted amount. Compost not requested during the quarter is forfeited and donated or sold to farmers, schools, neighbors, community projects, etc.

2. The Compost Return Quarter is every January, April, July and October. Compost is typically delivered during the first week of these months, weather permitting.

3. Members can purchase additional compost with a 30% discounted price through the Member’s Portal or online store.

B. For Drop Off Members:

1. Members can pick up a five-gallon CK bucket, lid and brown bag bucket liner from one of our participating partner sites.

2. After signing up, each drop off member is sent a Welcome email which includes information and links to learn more about our service.

3. We currently use a bucket swap method that includes a washing service.

4. Filled buckets should be sealed tight and remain closed upon arrival, to prevent smells, vermin and others viewing what is inside.

5. CK will pick up filled buckets throughout the week and leave clean buckets for members to swap out.

6. Members are allowed to leave one filled bucket and take one clean bucket, lid and brown paper bag liner each week. All memberships include one bucket a week.

7. Members should direct any questions, comments or inquiries about services to CK, NOT our community partner. If there is an emergency, please contact someone onsite immediately.

8. Members receive a 30% discount off compost products in our online store.

9. Members can pick up their share of free compost (12 gallons/year) from any of Compost Kauai’s annual Community Compost Sift Days.

 

3. Member responsibilities

Below is what we appreciate from both our pick-up and drop off Members.

1. Organic materials should go in the brown paper bag liner, inside in the bucket.

2. Items that are accepted as organics and compostable are limited to things that can be composted in less than 180 days. These include fruits and veggies; meats, eggshells, bread, grains and pasta, coffee grounds, nuts and spices, white paper towels, paper towel inner tubes, toilet paper, white tissues, etc.

3. Please see our Can and No Can blog post for a more exhaustive list and reasons.

4. PLEASE DO NOT place non-compostable materials in the bucket, such as liquid oil, fat, plastic, glass, rubber, or anything else that will contaminate our soil. When in doubt, reference the Can and No Can list or contact us.

5. We DO NOT accept “compostable” or “biodegradable” bioplastics/plastics. These do not work in our system and contain long-term chemicals we are still learning about.

 

1. For Pick-Up Service Members:

1. These terms give CK employees permission to enter a Member’s property for the purpose of retrieving loaned five-gallon buckets.

2. Place your CK bucket full of food scraps at the end of your driveway, next to your mailbox or in the same location as your County trash bin on your service day.

3. Feel free to inform neighbors, garbage collectors, landlords, housemates, and anyone else who might be interested about the presence of the buckets and what they are used for.

4. Members will be billed $14 by CK for any buckets that go missing or are destroyed. CK will add the charge to the Member’s next billing cycle or in a separate invoice. This will 

5. If Members wish to skip service for a specific day, they can request a skip in the online Member’s Portal. A service skip will give the Member a $3 credit to their account which will be applied to their next payment. Learn more in our How To Skip Service post.

6. If members need to skip five or more consecutive service days they can email us at aloha@compostkauai.org to request a pause in their membership.

7. CK will not pick up materials exceeding the size of the five-gallon bucket or sitting outside of the bucket.To prevent upset with service here are a few options for any excess material:

   1. Add another bucket to a current membership, essentially upgrading their service from 1 bucket/week to 2 buckets/week, on a monthly basis - email us at aloha@compostkauai.org to upgrade your service

   2. Cut food scraps into smaller pieces to help fill it in to all the spaces in the bucket

   3. Cut up or shred any excess materials that did not fit in the bucket (shred cardboard, shred paper, etc.)

8. If Members are over-filling their bucket each week on a regular basis (>3 times a month) CK will automatically upgrade the member to the next membership tier and leave them an extra bucket the following service day.

 

B. For Drop Off Members:

1. Members are responsible for following directions and details posted at each drop off site.

2. Members should record the date, their name and the bucket weight in the provided notebook for CK’s records, required by their State DOH permit.

3. Members are allowed to leave one filled bucket and take one clean bucket, lid and brown paper bag liner each week. All memberships include one bucket a week.

4. Members should direct any questions, comments or inquiries about services to CK, NOT our community partner. If there is an emergency, please contact someone onsite immediately.

5. Members should not share the lock combination and should ensure the door to the area is closed and locked after each use.

 

​​4. Payments

CK is a subscription-based service with other tangible products for sale. Subscription payments occur on the same date each month, starting when a Member signs up through our online form. Tangible products are billed and paid in full at the time of checkout. Hawaii’s 4.7% general excise tax (GET) is added at checkout to all services and products. 

 

1. Members promise to pay CK membership dues corresponding to the selected membership. Prices can be found in the online store, as well as below:

   1. Curbside pick-up rates are as follows:

      1. Do-Gooders: $34/month for recurring credit card payments, $32/month for recurring ACH payments or an annual payment in full

      2. The Influencers: $46/month for recurring credit card payments, $44/month for recurring ACH payments or an annual payment in full

      3. Scrapaholics: $58/month for recurring credit card payments, $56/ month for recurring ACH payments or an annual payment in full

   2. Drop off rates are as follows:

1. Lihue Drop off Service: $28/month with recurring credit card payments, $26/month with recurring ACH payments

2. Kiauea Drop off Service: $30/month with recurring credit card payments, $28/month with recurring ACH payments

• Small business monthly pick-up rates start at a base rate of $100/month for four buckets. Rates then vary after a CK consultation.

1. Payments are made through the Stripe platform, recurring each month.

   1. Subscriptions can be canceled at any time and there is no fee for canceling

   2. If wanting to cancel their subscription, a Member can log into their account and submit a Request to Cancel under the Account and Billing tab

   3. Any accounts with a returned check will be subjected to a $25 fee

5. Cancellation policy

Members can end their membership and subscription at any time.

1. For Pick-Up Service Members only:

   1. Please submit a Request to Cancel under the Account and Billing tab in the Member’s Portal

   2. A Curbside Member's final bucket pick-up will be the fourth Monday after their final payment

   3. Annual memberships will not be refunded if service is canceled earlier than the next annual billing date

2. For Drop-off Service Members only:

   1. Please submit a Request to Cancel under the Account and Billing tab in the Member’s Portal

   2. We request that drop-off members bring their final bucket to the drop off site for their final collection and to help us save and recycle buckets

 

If a membership payment is not successful on the initial billing date, Stripe will retry the payment method four times within three weeks. If payment is not successful after these attempts, subscriptions are automatically canceled and service is stopped.

 

CK reserves the right to postpone service on any given day due to extreme weather, unsafe road conditions, holidays, or operational issues. Members will be notified of such cancellation as soon as we know, prior to their service date. We will do our best to immediately reschedule pick-ups the following day.

 

Email: aloha@compostkauai.org

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​6. Confidentiality

CK and its employees, agents, or representatives will keep all subscriber information confidential. Further, CK will provide the services listed in this agreement and meet its obligations using high quality customer service.

 

7. Limitation of Liability

CK is not responsible for what happens once buckets are on a Member’s property. Please be gentle with our buckets and use them only for food scraps and acceptable materials listed under the Can and No Can.