On an already sweltering July morning, Mike Larrivee stood between mounds of compost in southwest Memphis near Presidents Island. Flies buzzed around heaps of soil, drawn to egg shells, apple cores and other food waste that hadn’t yet decomposed.

A small shed on the northernmost edge of this city-owned property is occupied by Atlas Organics, which has run Memphis’ only compost collection service since 2020, when it merged with the compost business Larrivee started a few years prior. 

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But Atlas picked up all its collection containers for the last time this past week, bringing compost collection in Memphis to a halt. In a statement to customers, Atlas attributed its exit to an insufficient number of workers to man collection routes; unaffordable and unreliable equipment; and the rising cost of labor and fuel.  

Now, Larrivee’s preparing to take over the compost business again, six years after founding it, but complications with the transition have left Memphis without service — at least for now. 

The beginnings of the Compost Fairy

Years ago, Larrivee earned a reputation as “the compost fairy.”

It’s kind of like the tooth fairy, he said: People would fill curbside containers with food waste, which would otherwise have no value, and they’d get fresh soil in return. 

Larrivee started a compost business in 2017, offering drop-off and collection services across Shelby County, and he named the business after his moniker: the Compost Fairy. It was the only service of its kind in Memphis, and at the beginning, Larrivee ran the business around his full-time job as a geologist, manning collection routes before work. 

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Even so, the business grew to more than 1,000 customers in its first three years. 

“The problems created by letting this stuff go to the landfill affects you and I the same way as it does everybody else in Memphis,” Larrivee said. 

Larrivee uses a head of lettuce as an example. If someone in Memphis throws away a head of lettuce, it’s taken to a landfill, where it’s compacted. Over the next 25 years, it’ll decompose in an oxygen-starved environment, releasing methane the whole time. 

If that same head of lettuce is composted instead, it’ll decompose within a few weeks and become nutrient-rich soil. 

So, in 2020 — eager to scale up as quickly and efficiently as possible — Larrivee’s Compost Fairy merged with Atlas Organics to double the amount of waste that could be diverted from Shelby County landfills. 

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But last August, Atlas was acquired by Generate Capital, a sustainable infrastructure investment company. Larrivee said it was a shift away from the Compost Fairy’s original mission, and he left the enterprise. 

Nearly a year later, in July 2023, Atlas announced it was leaving Memphis and ending the city’s only compost service, and Larrivee decided he would get back in the game. 

Next steps for Memphis’ waste

Atlas operated on a city-owned plot of land near Presidents Island in southwest Memphis. Now, Atlas’ access agreement with the city is up, and it’s processing the remaining compost and clearing the site. Some of the soil will be sold, and some will go to a landfill, but the timeline for that process is unknown. 

To avoid a lapse in collections between Atlas’ exit and his takeover, Larrivee offered to buy Atlas and Generate Capital’s assets and release them from liability. He saw it as a way for them to exit Memphis while leaving the site intact for him, but they declined his offer. 

Representatives from Atlas or Generate Capital were not made available for an interview with The Daily Memphian. 

Because Atlas has refused to waive liability and turn the property over to Larrivee, he can’t make headway on rebuilding the Compost Fairy until the site is cleared. He’s buying most of his materials and equipment from Atlas, and a few employees in the hauling unit will join him, but he said rebuilding a customer base will be a heavy lift. Atlas had about 600 customers in July when it announced it would leave the market. 

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But, Larrivee said, “The Compost Fairy is ready and waiting to pull the trigger.” 

While he thinks at-home composting is great, he says it’s better at scale. Atlas has been processing about 12,000 tons a year at the southwest Memphis facility. Larrivee eventually hopes to increase operations tenfold to divert more waste from local landfills.

A little less than 20% of municipal solid waste that ends up in Shelby County landfills is organic waste that could be recycled, Larrivee said. And landfills are the third-biggest source of methane emissions in the world.

Larrivee also has other, loftier goals for Memphis, like a waste management strategy that supports more composting and recycling, and a third cart on everyone’s curbs that’s designated for composting.

“When this is integrated and normalized and available to everybody, I’ll feel like I’ve done my job,” Larrivee said.