Photos: Green Box Compost

Inspired by his family’s backyard composting practice, Ben Stanger founded Green Box Compost in 2021 to encourage people in the Madison area to put their food scraps and other organic waste to better use.

The company offers compost pickup services for residents and businesses, processing the matter at a Sun Prairie site that transforms them into finished compost — a rich material that can be used to fertilize gardens and planting beds.

A small company with just nine full-time and four part-time employees, Green Box has nevertheless built a large regional customer base and recently expanded to include a larger compost site in Fort Atkinson. Stanger anticipates generating enough finished compost to begin selling it next year.