We steer food away from the trash and back into the earth.
At Moonshot, we collect food waste from businesses, schools and universities, apartment complexes, and elsewhere to conserve landfill space and reduce potent climate warming emissions.
So far, we’ve helped divert millions of pounds of food waste from landfills, transforming it into valuable compost instead.
Since our inception, we have expanded from Houston to include commercial composting in Austin, Dallas, and Waco, and have plans to go even further. Our growing and dedicated team is committed to delivering more sustainable food waste solutions.
Improving our environmental future with sustainable food waste solutions.
The food waste that gets sent to landfills is a bigger problem than many people realize. As it breaks down in landfills, it releases methane–a major contributor to harmful greenhouse gas emissions.
However, when food waste is separated and allowed to break down on its own, it turns into compost, which is a natural fertilizer.
By separating food waste into its own collection bins, we help make the garbage that does wind up in landfills more eco-friendly, as well as help create a valuable resource in compost, one we can collectively dedicate to the highest and best uses.
At Moonshot Compost, we're helping people change their way of thinking about food waste, to learn to see excess food not as trash, but as a nutrient-rich resource to be returned to the soil. We are out to change people’s perceptions about composting and make it more accessible to businesses and organizations.
Meet Moonshot founders
Chris and Joe.
Chris Wood and Joe Villa co-founded Moonshot Compost in July 2020. It had become clear to them that their native Houston had not yet adequately stepped up to the task of diverting its citizens’ and businesses’ food waste away from landfills. They started Moonshot with the hopes of making a real difference to the city’s environmental future.
Chris Wood
Chris Wood worked for more than 15 years as a corporate attorney. A lifelong Houstonian, he attended UVA for undergrad and UT Austin for law school. He and his wife Debbie Yee share two daughters.
Joe Villa
Joe Villa worked for more than 15 years for a leading international logistics company. A lifelong Texan, he has a degree in business from UT Pan American. He and his wife Linda Yee share one son.
How it started.
Just like many of us, Chris and Joe were faced with a personal decision: “Where do I put this trash?” For most of us, we confront this dilemma dozens of times each day and address it thoughtlessly as we were taught when we were young. For some, that means a trash can. For others, it means differentiating between two receptacles: trash or recycling.
What Is a “Moonshot?”
The term “moonshot” originated in the 1960s, when President Kennedy laid out a challenge to the nation (in a speech given right here in Houston) to send Americans to the moon. It was a task that seemed gargantuan at the time, and yet America rose to the occasion, and before the end of the decade we had put a man on the moon.
The environmental challenges facing our world today are just as daunting as attempting to go to the moon, which is why we think it’s time for equally big thinking. It’s time to face our problems head-on and not leave them for another generation.
So in the spirit of the Chinese proverb that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, we’re looking at the environmental impact of human behaviors and asking, “What are some small changes we can all make that will have a large impact?”
Our answer is composting. Our means of getting there is the service we provide. And our moonshot is getting every business we can to join our mission.
Educating and innovating.
Developing community-based solutions is the best way to lead climate action at a large scale. We believe that together, we can come up with innovative solutions to divert food waste from landfills.
One of our aims is to educate and inspire others through our diversion reporting.
Our proprietary Diversion Dashboard tracks composting totals by weight of food collected and converts these numbers to three different climate equivalents, including trees planted and miles not driven. This is a simple way to demonstrate how composting efforts directly contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.
Customers can see their contribution totals, as well as the totals from individual commercial locations through the dashboard. It’s also easy to share with followers on social media, and a fun way to connect with and motivate customers to compost.
Sustainability is our business.
They say to practice what you preach. At Moonshot, we truly believe in the power of sustainability to impact our communities and leave the planet better than we found it. That’s why we implement sustainability practices in every area we can:
Our offices implement 100% renewable electricity.
We use E-transit vehicles for our collections.
Our drivers utilize route optimization software to ensure that each collection run travels the fewest miles possible.
Twice during the year, we offer our customers the opportunity to receive compost they’ve earned from their food waste collections, that they can use in their own gardening projects. If they choose not to receive it, the compost is donated to a local community garden.
Over the last few years, Moonshot has donated hundreds of pounds of compost to local community gardens.
Food waste in landfills is a growing problem, but we believe that composting is a simple yet elegant solution. Small changes like food waste collection can make a huge impact collectively.
We invite your business to join the Moonshot community and start making your business part of the movement today.
