How to Sell Compost? Turning Your Black Gold Into Cash

Last Updated on June 10, 2022

If you produce a large amount of excess compost or keep animals then you may be able to turn the compost or animal waste into cash, or if you are more altruistic, give it away for free and see it go to good use.

To consider doing this you will have to look at various factors such as type, preparation required, and possible selling channels that you can use. 

The other factor that needs to be considered is volume. Are you just a home gardener with too much compost that you don’t want to store, or are you a small farm or homestead that produces a consistent volume of compost and or animal waste? This is important as you are likely to follow two different sales routes.

Selling Home-Produced Compost

It is surprising how much compost you can produce in a residential or small homestead/farm environment. This might well be the case if you have a large amount of brown organic material to dispose of or keep chickens, rabbits, goats, or sheep. 

If you can’t use the volume you produce, the question becomes what to do with it? One solution is to sell it and or give it away. You might even consider it as a useful sideline business, particularly if you have a continual supply. The whole selling process is perhaps a little easier than you might think.

Separating into Types

Different types of compost have different nutrient values and are used for different purposes. Although in some instances you will add animal waste to compost piles, the animal waste being an incredibly nutrient-rich organic material on its own is often put straight onto the soil.

Animal Waste

Not all animal manure is the same. You are going to keep the individual types of animal manure separate. They each have different nutrient properties and will be bought for different purposes. 

Some animal manures such as chickens, goats, sheep, or cows will require aging to eliminate any possible pathogens that might be present. Around six weeks is a common interval for aging this type of manure.

It would also need to be applied to the ground at planting, rather than later in the growing cycle, as you should have a least a four to five-month interval, for food crops, from use. It is likely that those using manure would know this, but just in case you should specify this at the sale.

Rabbit droppings are much easier to handle and can be bagged and sold as soon as they are collected. 

Organic Compost

Depending on what organic materials you are composting you are going to batch it by type and nutrients. A soil test kit can help establish nutrient differences for various batches. This isn’t going to apply to domestic compost, which you would just sell as general compost, unless you have used specific ingredients to increase certain nutrients or their acidity level.

Preparation for Selling Your Excess Compost

The first thing to consider is how much volume there is and how it is stored? In some large yards, you might have more than one pile and find that you don’t need the second pile. 

Selling the Compost Loose

If you are looking to sell the whole pile loose, then, if there is not a great amount then this is possible to just barrow it to the bed of a buyer’s pick-up or truck. It might require a bit of work but if it is a question of just getting rid of your excess compost then this might be the simplest solution.

Using Sand Delivery Bags

Another option is to get some loose sandbags and fill them, although, it is probably easier if you have a small farm or homestead. Sand is often sold in this way and This is an efficient way to compartmentalize the pile and sell to multiple buyers. It might be a particularly good solution if you are going to have a ready supply of compost.

The only downside of this approach might be the ability to lift the bags. If you have a mini tractor,  a hoist, or a mini crane, this clearly won’t be an issue. 

Instead of sandbag sacks, you could also use 5-gallon buckets. These are less than a dollar at most wholesalers and are a great, manageable way to quantify and sell you loose compost.

Bagging the Compost into Plastic Sacks

If you have a considerable amount of compost you might want to consider bagging it. You don’t need a complicated setup and if your goal is to maximize your return then this is going to be the best solution.

You will need plastic sacks and a heat sealer which you should be able to pick up from pretty much any packaging company or find online. Even if you were not going to sell the compost but store it. This is the best solution for keeping it fresh for several years as you will prevent air and moisture from getting to it, which can degrade the finished compost.

Channels for Selling Your Compost 

A lot of people are put off by the idea of having to sell. The great thing about compost is that it pretty much sells itself; people know what it is if they want it.

In today’s world, there are a great many different sales channels readily available to everyone, both online and physical selling opportunities abound.

Where to Sell Compost Online?

There are a plethora of online channels that can be used to sell your excess or your compost production. This is a particularly good route to take if you don’t like selling. 

If you are looking at turning your ‘compost production into a small cottage industry’ you could consider putting up a website.

Website

Putting up a website doesn’t need to be difficult or even expensive. Indeed, there are lots of free options available such as Google Sites, WordPress, or Wix to name just three, that take care of almost all of the technical side for you.

They all have simple templates and require very little skill or effort to set up. Link them to a PaPal account or take payment on the collection and you have a business. Set up a sales Google My Business Page, and Facebook Page and you should get some local interest.

Facebook Marketplace

If you are looking to sell occasionally and don’t want anything too formal like a website, then Facebook Marketplace is a great place to start. If you are only selling occasionally, it is free and if you are going to do it commercially there is a 5% fee. Facebook marketplace is a particularly good option because the people that see the marketplace offers are usually local.

If you are looking to regularly produce and sell compost, you can also set up a Facebook Page and/or Group to help drive interest.

Classified Ads

Other online options include Craigslist, Gumtree, and other localized classified sites. Again, the interest you get should be local.

Auction Sites

You could also try places like eBay stating that it is ‘collect only’, which should keep the majority of interest to people who can actually collect. This method will have a cost attached, although this is still relatively inexpensive in the scheme of things.

Selling Compost in the Real World

Of course, there are plenty of old-school methods that are available on sales channels. If you don’t mind a little bit of selling, then they can be the most effective way to shift your compost.

Garden Centers

The most logical option is garden centers. Not the large chains but local independent places. If you are going to turn your compost production into a ‘cottage industry’ then having a regular sales and distribution channel is going to make a big difference.

You will be surprised at how accommodating that can be as it is often a win-win situation for both you and them. The opportunity for them to be able to offer high-quality, locally produced compost, rather than the usual commercial compost they offer is likely to be popular.

Farmers Markets

The next option is traditional markets. The best type of market is probably going to be a Farmer’s Market. Many towns operate them and they tend to move town to town as per the day of the week. Stalls are usually relatively inexpensive and you will probably find that you will struggle to keep up with the demand.

General markets can also be good. With these sorts of markets, some will be better than others, and demand is likely to vary from town to town.

If you are just looking to get rid of excess compost, then a car boot or a car trunk sale are great ways to sell it. Over recent years these have become very popular, and pitches tend to be incredibly cheap.

Community Gardens and Gardening Clubs

Community Gardens can also be a good avenue for sales. Most towns have at least one with some having several. These can be places where, if you are not looking to sell your excess compost, there is likely to be plenty of demand to take it off your hands.

This doesn’t of course preclude selling. If you have a regular supply, you might be able to strike a deal with the Community Garden committee and become a regular supplier to them.

Summary: How to Sell Compost

Selling your excess or homestead/farm-produced compost is not difficult. The wonderful thing about compost is that it is needed by pretty much all gardeners, but many don’t have the time, confidence, or perhaps patience to make their own. Each year hundreds of millions of sacks of commercial compost are sold, but most gardeners know that homemade compost is better.

Not only is there a ready market but there are also numerous different sales channels that you can use. If you don’t like selling, then there are lots of online options and if you don’t mind a bit of face-to-face interaction there are lots of physical sales channels available.

Probably the hardest part is going to be making it saleable, bagging it, or finding a way to easily quantify amounts. With a little thought and sometimes effort, even this is fairly straightforward, with plastic sacks, sand or feed bags, and 5-gallon buckets all simple solutions.