Marketing Compost (EAWAG) - The Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

1 Introduction
For many years, businesses, municipalities and NGOs around the world have
successfully produced large volumes of high-quality compost. Compost offers
greater benefits to society and the environment than a can of soft drink
or the latest mobile phone, but unlike these it does not enjoy a ready market.
It is often considered to be dirty, and it lacks an immediate benefit to people.
Of course, compost is a valuable agricultural input which can improve the condition
of soil and reduce the need for chemical fertilisers. Despite these qualities,
selling compost remains a challenge and some producers cannot even
give it away. Lack of markets has caused many businesses to fail.
Composting can be approached in two main ways.
The solid waste management approach, wherein composting is a way of
treating organic waste within the solid waste management system. Compost
is seen as a by-product.
The marketing approach, wherein composting is a way of producing a valuable
product that can be sold. Compost is the core of all activities.
The marketing approach focuses on producing and selling a high-quality product.
In contrast to the solid waste management approach, it is driven more
by customer demand than material supply. However, a successful marketing
approach to composting will usually result in all solid waste management objectives
being met.
This guide describes a marketing approach to composting, and is intended to
help compost producers run more viable initiatives by unlocking the value of
their product. The handbook does not cover everything there is to know about
marketing, but starts from basics and introduces the key principles and techniques.
These include understanding the ‘marketing environment’, identifying
appropriate target customer groups, and developing and promoting products
to suit the market.
Marketing Compost—Introduction