October 2013 Newsletter: SOIL Sells Over 70,000 Gallons of Compost

Dear Friends,

This week SOIL reached an exciting benchmark: we’ve sold over 70,000 gallons compost. Marketed under the brandname “Konpòs Lakay,” SOIL sells the compost produced at our composting waste treatment facilities to farmers, businesses, and organizations around Haiti. Our biggest customer to date is BRANA, Heineken’s Haitian subsidiary, which purchased SOIL’s Konpòs Lakay to support local sorghum production, but the doorbell at our Port-au-Prince office has been ringing nonstop as word gets out about this valuable, locally-produced soil ammendment. Backyard gardeners, members of a community-supported garden, independent agricultural supply resellers, a few restaurants, and the international organization, Save the Children, have all stopped in recently. Save the Children plans to use two hundred and fifty gallons of Kònpos Lakay to nourish new plants at their nursery on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince.

Marketing SOIL’s compost is an important step in paving the way for the future of sanitation in Haiti. It offsets some of the cost of treating waste, making it possible for SOIL to provide sanitation services in even more communities. It also adds much-needed carbon to the soil, helping our customers increase their production and rebuild Haiti’s fragile environment. At SOIL, we are proud to do business where everyone comes out a winner!

With love from Haiti,
SOIL

October News:

• SOIL partners with DNA Everywhere to test for pathogens in compost. This exciting partnership increases the accuracy and ease of verifying the safety and value of SOIL’s EcoSan compost.
• Even when we’re not testing DNA extractions of our compost, we always test all of our finished compost batches for indicator pathogens to ensure they’re safe and ready for use. Learn more about the SOIL lab in the Cap-Haitien office.
• Over 575 families are on the watilist for a SOIL toilet and demand continues to grow for SOIL’s paid toilet service.
• Families that paid their SOIL household toilet bill on time this month were automatically entered into SOIL’s first ever Toilet Raffle. Learn more about the popular new raffle and about how SOIL’s social business model is increasing sanitation access in Haiti!
• The new Caracol Industrial Park in northern Haiti contracted SOIL to treat their wastes – increasing waste treatment access in Haiti while also building SOIL’s customer base to improve sustainability.
• Trees, Trees, Trees. An update from the SOIL / Trees, Water & People reforestation project in northern Haiti.
• SOIL was recently featured in Forbes as one of four innovative organizations that fight chronic disease and boost economies.
• IRIN Humanitarian News quotes SOIL’s Sasha Kramer in an insightful piece on why water and sanitation (WASH) interventions so often fail.
• SOIL’s cheerful and irrepresible Regional Director, Theo Huitema, produces four more Theo Talks videos that provide an intimate picture of the daily life (and thoughts) of Theo. Check out the latest episodes.

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