Many great ideas stem from the most unusual inspiration. In the case of BinBreeze, it was the foul odour from a compost bin that needed to be eliminated. BinBreeze CEO Taylor McCarten walked into his parents’ beautiful kitchen and couldn’t stand the pungent odour emanating from the compost bin on the counter. The kitchen was being ruined by stench and fruit flies from the decomposing food waste—but his parents were doing their part to help the environment. Taylor knew the answer wasn’t to stop composting, but to make the process more pleasant. This meant solving problems that have plagued composters for generations: bad smells, fruit flies, and a soggy, wet bin.
At the time, Taylor was finishing his MBA at the University of Victoria and decided to challenge himself to produce a product that would solve these composting issues as part of his final project. With an idea in his head, Taylor went back to a class he thought he would never enter again—chemistry. Taylor enlisted the help of Harmen Zijlstra, a PhD chemist, science-driven entrepreneur, and co-founder of BinBreeze.
Together, they perfected the BinBreeze formula, addressing composting issues and ensuring their product would make the process more enjoyable and encourage people to compost. Reaching the final product was not easy, and several changes occurred during their search for the right balance of non-toxic ingredients that are human- and animal-friendly while remaining effective.
BinBreeze is formulated with specialty minerals, fossilized algae, and clean wood waste. Its patented formula was scientifically designed to enrich the resulting compost for local composting facilities and home composters. BinBreeze not only makes composting more pleasant; it also creates healthier compost that can be used more easily at composting facilities.
Each element in the formula helps tackle a different composting issue. Wood dust helps with soil structure and moisture retention, as well as the absorption of excess liquid in your kitchen bin. The use of wood is doubly beneficial to the environment because it also diverts wood waste from burning. To many people’s surprise, burning wood is actually worse than coal, meaning BinBreeze sequesters carbon in the product so it does not enter the atmosphere. To date, BinBreeze has successfully diverted 20 tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere.
To eliminate odour and absorb unwanted liquid produced by food waste, sawdust, zeolites, and small amounts of essential oils were added. Zeolites are minerals commonly used as commercial adsorbents and catalysts. They are also a common gardening additive and are sold as the main ingredient in other waste deodorizers. Compost with zeolite not only improves the physicochemical properties of the compost product but also enhances microbial activity by promoting organic solid-waste decomposition and reducing the duration of the composting process. Zeolitic additives can also reduce greenhouse gases and ammonia emissions created during composting.
To tackle fruit flies, the BinBreeze team chose food-grade diatomaceous earth, which is commonly used in organic gardening and is known to be a mechanical pesticide. It is also readily available and is used in foods, medicine, paints, plastics, and pet litter. It is an all-natural additive, meaning BinBreeze remains safe to use in gardens, compost bins, and other places with similar problems. BinBreeze is designed to dehydrate insects with exoskeletons, including fruit flies, but it does not affect worms, soft-bodied insects, or composting microbes. Initially, other ingredients such as lime, bio-activators (compost), and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) were considered but ruled out through consultation with local composting facilities.
BinBreeze creates an aerobic, oxygen-rich microbial reaction in your compost bin and starts working as soon as it is added. It holds moisture, nutrients, and gases such as potassium, nitrogen, and methane to enrich the soil while capturing emissions.
At the time of publication, BinBreeze was available in more than 500 retailers across Canada and continued to expand its service to composters everywhere. Its mission is to make composting more approachable, enjoyable, and effective for homeowners and composting facilities around the world.
