FAQ

Demi is the first complete solution focused on making composting an easy and fun process for urban dwellers specifically in apartments and condo communities. Here's what we do differently:

• Seamlessly integrate with existing apartment and waste infrastructure, making the process clean and hassle-free for residents

• Provide sleek, recyclable, counter-friendly bins

• Educate users and track environmental impact with a dedicated app

The Demi countertop food scrap bins will be designed with the following features:

• Sustainable - our bins are made of infinitely recyclable stainless steel, making them 100% recyclable and built to last

• Counter-friendly dimensions - our bins will be 9”x7”x4”, which can fit easily on your countertop for easy access when you cook

• Odor-blocking design - our bins don’t absorb odor like traditional plastic materials and our airtight seal ensures odors don’t leak

Contamination is something we are very much focused on limiting, and we plan to address it primarily through two means:

1. Education for the residents - our mobile app includes an easily searchable database to help educate residents as to what they can or cannot compost

2. Using an industrial composter - all of the food waste that we would pick up from your site will then be hauled to an industrial composter. The benefit of this is that industrial composting sites are usually more forgiving about accepting items that would normally be considered "contamination" in normal backyard composting!

Demi's aim is to actually help decrease the mess that buildings face when food waste is incorporated in their normal waste management. Because we empower residents to separate out their food waste from traditional trash, we actually anticipate the issues around rodents, insects, and odor will actually be reduced for the building as more residents begin to adopt our services.

We aim to do this through the following approach:

• Provide countertop bins with lids for each resident that "opts in" for our service

• Once those bins are full, residents can drop off the entire bin with the lid at our Demi Pod, located in a common area of the building

• We then pick up the bins on a regular cadence to limit any additional effects of sitting food waste

Our goal is to provide full transparency to you as to the impact of all your great work! We plan to launch an app that not only provides detailed metrics on how much food waste you are diverting, but also how your food scraps are helping to reduce green house gases and how your efforts ranks against your peers.

Our research has found that 73% of downtown Chicago residents are willing to spend more on rent for sustainable apartment buildings, with composting being a large part of the draw. In addition to that, food waste in normal trash can lead to higher costs for buildings, not only through extra weight that your waste management hauls, but also through maintenance/clean up costs to avoid pests and rodents.

We're on a mission to help buildings like yours take advantage of changing tenant preferences while also helping to manage your existing waste costs!

You can compost the following items: Fruits and vegetables, Eggshells, Coffee grounds and filters, Tea bags, Nut shells, Shredded newspaper, Cardboard, Paper, Houseplants, Leaves, Cotton and Wool Rags, Hair and fur, Fireplace ashes, and many more!

We have a fully searchable database on our app and here is a handy printable list of compostables!