Compost proves profitable as Dirt Hugger grows green business
Dirt Hugger’s Eilidh Maclean with scissors does the honors of cutting the ribbon at the grand opening of Dirt Huggers retail site at 749 Snipes Street just northwest of Kentucky Fried Chicken in The Dalles.
By Tom Peterson
It was a homecoming of sorts for Dirt Hugger last week as Eilidh MacLean cut the ribbon on the new retail facility in the former site of Jones Auto Wrecking & Towing at 749 Snipes Street just northwest of Kentucky Fried Chicken in The Dalles.
The company started in the Port of The Dalles with month-to-month leases and a handful of employees 12 years ago.
Co-founders Pierce Louis and Tyler Miller essentially used a feasibility study on composting to lay plans for green waste recycling that would change the Gorge and eventually pump up the company’s revenue stream as they kept some 55,000 tons of green waste out of local landfills.
Back then, who knew the company would grow to 32 employees and encompass 24 ½ acres between composting and retail sites in Dallesport and The Dalles?
Who knew their processing site would more than double in size?
Well, a few did.
They even bet on it.
“I knew it made sense,” said Karen Murray. “That’s why we contributed $50 to their Kickstarter campaign in 2014. It makes no sense to burn yard debris when you can use it to make dirt.”
“It helps the environment,” added her husband Steve. “Take the carbon out of the air and take it out of the landfill.”
Dirt Hugger Co-Founder Pierce Louis, center, talks with orginal Kickstarter funders Karen and Steve Murray at the company’s grand opending of it’s retail store in The Dalles.
The Murray’s names are still on the wall at Dirt Hugger as original Kickstarter contributors. That campaign raised more than $66,000 and made it possible, in part, for the company to move to its site in the Dallesport Industrial Park in 2015.
On Wednesday, May 4, it was time for a bit of reflection and celebration as the company invited the public to take a look at the different compost, dirt and bark products they offer, enjoy some libations, food and, of course, cornhole.
Dirt Hugger is utilizing just one acre of the 6.5-acre site purchased at the Jones Wrecking site. They bought the property in April 2021, for $531,888, according to Wasco County Tax records.
And, of course, there was some recycling to do.
“Stan Ashbrook of Dufur is taking the old hand-painted Jone’s Wrecking sign,” said Maclean as she prepared for festivities to start. “He’s going to put it on the side of his barn so the history can live on.”
Dirthugger has 18 bays of product on site - from compost to bark chips. Check out the gallery below.
The site, with new drainage, landscape, sidewalks and curb looks finished. And it's a tad nicer than going to the manufacturing site in Dallesport where customers contend with heavy wind at times. And it’s dead center in the outdoor retail mix with Coastal to the east and Home Depot to the west.
Pedro Lopez, 22, and his grandmother Amelia Villalobos celebrate the grand opening of Dirt Hugger in The Dalles.
“I’m stoked to be here,” said employee Pedro Lopez, 22, who has used a loader to stack concrete blocks to get The Dalles site ready. His grandmother, Amelia Villalobos, made the horchata, tamarindo and jamaica with hibiscus drinks for the grand opening event. There always seems to be a little family in the Hugger mix.
“These are good people,” he said. “It’s exactly what I needed.”
Maclean said it was also nice to be offering products free of plastic bags. “It feels good that people can buy in bulk,” noting reusable buckets are also available.
They even eliminated the red solo cups at the Freebridge kegs, opting for the rubber substitute that is dishwasher safe.
But for Miller and Pierce, it’s rewarding to see their business flourish by doing the right thing - pulling green waste out of the landfill and reconstituting it into compost where locals can put the nutrient-rich blend right back where it came from.
The company has created jobs by utilizing unsold fruit, food scraps, beer yeast, yard and woody debris to create a sellable compost.
Dirt Hugger is keeping 55,000 tons of annual green waste from being dumped at local landfills. If not diverted, that much tonnage could produce massive amounts of methane, a significant contributor to greenhouse gasses that absorb light and prevent heat from escaping the earth.
Methane is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide, according to the EPA. In other words, eliminating that much methane is the equivalent of eliminating 2,544 passenger vehicles or conserving $1.5 million gallons of gasoline, Miller calculated a year ago. He is the Chief Organics Officer.
Tyler Miller
“It’s rewarding,” Miller said. “It’s a lot of work. We’ve grown a lot. We hit walls at 15 people and at 25. There are more systems and more management. But we have an impact at a bigger scale.”
“I’m glad to be back in The Dalles,” Louis said later. “It’s good to return to our roots.”
