Name: Rapid City Compost
Address: 514 Americas Way #14796, Box Elder, SD, 57719, US
Telephone: +1-605-600-1660
Price range: $$

A to Z

Aerobic composting: Decomposition driven by oxygen-loving microbes. Aerobic piles produce CO₂, heat, and water — not the methane a sealed landfill produces. Commercial facilities aerate piles to keep the process aerobic.
Anaerobic decomposition: Decomposition without oxygen. This is what food waste does in a landfill: it releases methane, a greenhouse gas roughly 80× more potent than CO₂ over 20 years.
ASP (aerated static pile): A commercial method where a large pile sits over perforated pipes that pump air through it. Faster and tighter on odor than open windrows.
BPI-certified: Biodegradable Products Institute certification. The reliable signal that a piece of packaging is industrial-compostable — not just labeled "eco."
Carbon-to-nitrogen ratio (C:N): The recipe balance between dry browns (carbon) and wet greens (nitrogen). Commercial composters target roughly 25–30:1. Off-ratio piles slow down or stink.
CO₂e: Carbon dioxide equivalent. A way to compare greenhouse gases on one scale by converting them to the warming effect of CO₂. Diverted food waste avoids methane, which is reported as CO₂e.
Contamination: Anything in the bin that isn't compostable — plastic film, regular utensils, gloves, glass. A small fraction is tolerable; high contamination gets a load rejected and sent to landfill.
Contamination threshold: The percentage of non-compostable material a facility will accept in a load before rejection. Ours is 2%. See /contamination-policy.
Diversion: Material kept out of the landfill or incinerator. "Diversion rate" is the share of total waste sent somewhere else (composting, recycling, reuse).
Feedstock: The raw inputs going into a compost pile: food scraps, yard waste, food-soiled paper, etc.
Food-soiled paper: Napkins, paper towels, uncoated to-go boxes, pizza boxes with grease. Compostable; usually a meaningful fraction of restaurant organics by volume.
FOG (fats, oils, grease): Plumbing's least favorite trio. Cooking grease belongs in a grease trap or rendering bin, not in compost or down the drain.
Industrial-compostable: Material that breaks down in a commercial facility's heat and time window but not in a backyard pile. PLA cups and BPI-certified service-ware are the common examples.
In-vessel composting: Composting inside an enclosed reactor — drum, tunnel, or container. Highest control on odor and temperature; common for dense urban facilities.
Methane (CH₄): The greenhouse gas food waste produces in a landfill. Composting the same material aerobically prevents nearly all of it.
Organics: Industry shorthand for compostable material — food scraps, yard waste, food-soiled paper. The contents of a compost bin.
RCMC 8.16.010: Rapid City Municipal Code §8.16.010 — the city's public-nuisance ordinance. Lists odors, vermin attractants, and uncontained food waste among citable conditions. See /compliance.
Route density: How many accounts a truck can hit per mile. Higher density = lower per-stop cost. The reason pricing in Box Elder and Rapid Valley matches Rapid City.
Screen size: The mesh used to sift finished compost — typically 1/4 inch or 1/2 inch. Smaller screen = finer compost (good for seedlings). See the blog post on screen sizes.
STA-certified: Seal of Testing Assurance from the US Composting Council. Third-party verification that a finished compost meets quality standards. Ask any hauler where their material lands and whether the finished product is STA-certified.
Tipping fee: What a hauler pays to drop a load at a receiving site. Pricing on the hauler side rolls tipping fees into the per-pickup or per-pound rate.
Thermophilic phase: The hot phase of composting, 131–140 °F+. Kills pathogens and weed seeds. A backyard pile rarely hits or holds this; a commercial pile does.
Tote / cart: The wheeled bin we deliver to your back-of-house. 32-, 64-, or 96-gallon sizes are standard.
USCC: US Composting Council — the national trade body. Publishes standards including the STA program above.
Weight ticket / scale ticket: Receipt from a certified scale showing what a load actually weighed. The only number we'll call "verified" in your reporting — everything else is an estimate.
Windrow: A long, low pile of composting material turned periodically to keep it aerobic. The classic outdoor method, common at rural and mid-scale facilities.

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