SOILUTIONS seeks a sustainable future
Company trying to make composting mainstream
Trishelle Kirk has one mantra on her mind on a daily basis: Reduce, compost, recycle. It’s easy to have that as her daily mantra because she is the owner of Soilutions, a South Valley company that focuses on turning organic waste that would have gone into a landfill into nutrient rich compost.
When Kirk took over the composting company as CEO in 2023, she had one goal.
“We want homeowners to realize that they are able to compost, even if they don’t have the equipment or space to do it themselves,” she said.
To help with that goal, Soilutions created a website where customers can order composting material online and have it delivered to their homes.
“We are the largest private compost and soil company” in the state, Kirk said. “It’s important to us that people know composting is available to them on a commercial level.”
Composting, which is the process of turning organic materials into fertilizer that improves the soil, is the primary focus of Soilutions.
What started as a regenerative compost company to help local farmers increase their soil vitality has grown to be New Mexico’s largest private compost and soil company.
Soilutions accepts a variety of organic material, but the most common material they receive is yard waste. This can include things like branches and leaves but they also accept food waste.
“New Mexico has very harsh soil conditions from erosion and soil depletion. This can make it a lot harder for plants to grow, and when they do they might not grow to their full potential,” Kirk said. “Soilutions was founded with the idea that we can make high quality composting products from local businesses. Being locally produced with native materials makes our products the best choice for optimal performance in our unique high desert terrain and climate.”
The Soilutions process begins by collecting waste from commercial companies like landscapers, food banks and food processors.
They use an aerated windrow pile system to create their compost. The process starts by combining ideal ratios of carbon and nitrogen inputs, which for Soilutions include green chile peels and stems from Bueno Foods, Christmas trees from Just Sprinklers and pulverized paper from Sandia
National Labs, among several others, Kirk said.
It takes about six to nine months to complete the process. But Soilutions has some ready to go at all times to fill orders.
“A lot of landscapers drop off their plant waste and purchase our compost,” Kirk stated. “It ends up being a full circle.”
Kirk said the company was founded in 1996 and has converted more than 60 million pounds of waste into compost.
Soilutions accepts organic waste donations at their facility, at 9008 Bates SE. It is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Don’t have the time to go to Soilutions? Try JustSprinklers, which partners with the company for waste diversion. The company sells bulk Soilutions orders.
Kirk says the future of Soilutions is just as bountiful as the plants the company’s compost helps grow.
“We hope to increase our product offerings in the upcoming year. We also want to keep diverting waste from landfills and help encourage businesses to align themselves with a more sustainable lifestyle. We are hoping to partner with more businesses that have the same mindset we do about sustainability,” Kirk said. “In order to provide more in New Mexico, we need more inputs and we want those to be products that would have originally gone to the landfill.”