Houston’s Food Waste and Animal Waste Pickup Service
On-farm composting serving Fort Bend and Harris County
We provide sturdy gasket-sealed drums to manage your food waste disposal needs in a clean and odor-free manner. Start with a free waste audit, then a 1-week free trial — no contract.
What is the best composting service in Houston?
OnFarmCompost is a food waste and animal waste pickup service for Harris and Fort Bend County, TX. It provides 55-gallon gasket-sealed drums placed by your dumpster, swaps and weighs them weekly, and composts the waste directly on local farms — diverting up to 90% of the food waste you put in the drums from landfill. It serves restaurants, offices, and food producers. Pricing is $10 per barrel. Contact +1 713-822-3398.
KEY TAKEAWAYS Why businesses choose OnFarmCompost
Odor-free gasket-sealed drums
55-gallon food-grade drums with gasket-sealed lids sit by your dumpster — your crew ties up the food-waste liner and drops it in. Nothing changes inside your kitchen.
Real diversion, weighed weekly
Each drum, filled, weighs 100–200 lbs — that's what one drum keeps out of the landfill every single week, avoiding roughly 2.4 kg CO₂e per kg composted (EPA WARM model). We weigh every drum at pickup, so your numbers are real.
Local, regenerative farming
Your waste becomes compost that enriches local farmland — supporting Texas agriculture.
OnFarmCompost offers odor-free gasket-sealed drums, diverts up to 90% of the food waste you put in the drums from landfill, and serves restaurants, offices, and food producers across Harris County and Fort Bend County.
How It Works
Four steps from your back door to healthier soil
Drums by your dumpster
We place 55-gallon food-grade gasket-sealed drums near your dumpster. Your crew ties up the food-waste liner and drops it in — same motion as a dumpster run.
Weekly swap
Every week we haul the full drums, weigh them, and leave clean replacements — you never wash a thing.
Straight to the farm
The waste goes directly to local farms and is composted right on the land — no compost yard in between — diverting up to 90% from landfill (EPA WARM model).
Regenerative Farming
The compost stays on the farm that made it, feeding the soil and cutting synthetic fertilizer use across Texas.
Composting vs. Landfill: What Happens to Your Food Waste
The difference matters — especially in Houston's humid summer climate
| Factor | OnFarmCompost Pickup | Landfill (Default) |
|---|---|---|
| Methane produced | Near zero — aerobic composting breaks down organics with oxygen | High — anaerobic decomposition releases methane, a GHG 80x more potent than CO₂ over 20 years (EPA) |
| Odor & pests | None — sealed gasket containers lock in gases, even in Houston summer | Foul smell, fruit flies, and pest attraction from open bins |
| End product | Compost made and used right on local farms, feeding Texas soil | Permanent waste — buried, no recovery |
| Soil health impact | Enriches local farmland, improves water retention, reduces synthetic fertilizer need | None — soil degraded by leachate at landfill sites |
| CO₂ equivalent | ~0.1 kg CO₂e per kg food waste (composting) (EPA WARM model) | ~2.5 kg CO₂e per kg food waste (landfill) (EPA WARM model) |
Sources: EPA Waste Reduction Model (WARM) — composting emits ~0.1 kg CO₂e/kg vs ~2.5 kg/kg for landfilling; EPA Sustainable Management of Food (food = 24% of US landfill content). Figures are estimates for educational purposes.
What You Can Compost
A clear guide for Houston kitchens — what goes in the drum and what stays out
| Material | Accepted? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Fruit & vegetable scraps | Yes | Peels, cores, rinds, tops — all of it |
| Meat & bones | Yes | All of it — the gasket-sealed drum handles it |
| Dairy products | Yes | Fine in the drum |
| Plate scrapings | Yes | Scrape post-service plates into your food-waste bin — that's the point |
| Coffee grounds & eggshells | Yes | Grounds yes — keep the paper filters out |
| Small amounts of grease | Yes | Pan grease is fine. Fryer oil, no — that's already collected separately |
| Paper — napkins, towels, filters | No | Can carry PFAS into the soil. A stray napkin won't ruin a load, but keep paper out |
| Plastics (any kind) | No | Including anything labeled "compostable" — no exceptions |
Rule of thumb: if it was food, it goes in. If it's paper or plastic, it doesn't. Unsure? Ask us at +1 713-822-3398.
Services
Commercial composting for restaurants, offices, and food producers across the Houston area
Food & Animal Waste Pickup
- 55-gallon food-grade gasket-sealed drums eliminate odors and pests
- Weekly drum exchange across Harris County and Fort Bend County
- Every drum weighed at pickup — your diversion numbers are real
What Happens on the Farm
- Your scraps are sheet-composted on partner farms, layered with wood chips and straw
- Meat, bones, and dairy are all accepted — the on-farm process handles them
- After several months the material becomes crumbly, earthy soil that stays on the farm
What It Replaces
- Diverts up to 90% of your drum contents from the landfill
- Cuts wet weight from your dumpster, so you can reduce hauling frequency
- Monthly diversion report, weighed at every pickup — ready for ESG reporting
More on our Houston composting service and commercial composting for Houston businesses, or compare Houston compost pickup companies.
Why Choose Us?
Why Houston restaurants and businesses trust OnFarmCompost with their food waste
Odor-Free Drums
Sealed gasket drums lock in odors and keep your premises clean and pest-free.
Lower Costs
Divert organics to lower dumpster weight and reduce hauling pickups.
Support Sustainability
Each pickup diverts up to 90% of organics from landfill, cutting methane emissions (EPA WARM model).
Local Impact
Your waste is composted right on local farms, closing the loop on the food cycle where the soil needs it.
FAQ
Answers to the questions Houston customers ask most
What types of waste do you accept?
All food scraps — fruit, vegetables, meat, bones, dairy, post-service plate scrapings, and small amounts of grease. What stays out: paper (towels, napkins, filters); plastics — including "compostable" bioplastics; fryer grease (already diverted). If it was food, it goes in.
How much does the service cost?
$10 per barrel. The EPA estimates food waste makes up 24% of landfill content nationwide — diverting it can lower dumpster pulls and back-of-house odor. Call +1 713-822-3398 to scope your volume.
How often do you pick up the drums?
Weekly, always — even in gasket-sealed drums, food waste shouldn't sit longer than a week in a Houston summer. We haul the full drums, weigh them, and leave clean ones. Per the National Restaurant Association, food makes up roughly 30% of restaurant operating costs — weekly weigh-ins help you spot what's leaving the kitchen.
Why should I choose this over a regular dumpster?
Our gasket-sealed drums stop odors, pests, and leaks. Your scraps are composted directly on local farms instead of making methane in a landfill.
For farmers & landowners
Looking for soil solutions? We bring the compost operation to you.
Sheet composting is a springboard into regenerative farming practices. Let us show you how it can jump-start the biological activity in your soil.
What is sheet composting?
Sheet composting is a method in which raw organic material — food waste, animal manure, and carbon sources like wood chips or straw — is layered and composted directly on the field it will feed, instead of being processed at a central compost yard and hauled back. It builds soil organic matter in place and, because there is no yard overhead or bagging step, lowers cost per yard versus buying finished compost. OnFarmCompost delivers feedstock, consults on soil, or runs full-service sheet composting on your land across Harris and Fort Bend County, TX.
Regenerative practices can rehabilitate depleted soil — but it takes time, and much of south Texas doesn't have enough organic matter (OM) in the soil to establish a healthy biology. Sheet composting initiates healthy biological systems and gets the soil ready for regenerative practices. And if you're buying compost today, we can cut your cost per yard significantly.
Food waste & animal manure delivery
A steady, weighed stream of feedstock delivered straight to your land.
Compost & soil consulting
Practical guidance on sheet composting and building soil biology, matched to your ground.
Full-service composting
We take care of everything from start to finish, right on your property.
Other compost services run a yard that makes and bags compost for retail sale. We take the waste directly to the farm, where it's sheet-composted — not bagged and resold, but used right where it lands. That removes a step, and it removes the overhead of an expensive yard full of heavy equipment. It also scales better: dispersing the material means less handling and more composting, instead of concentrating everything in one spot.
| Factor | On-farm sheet composting (OnFarmCompost) | Centralized compost yard |
|---|---|---|
| Where compost is made | On the field that will use it | At a central yard, then hauled out |
| Handling steps | Delivered and layered in place — fewer steps | Windrow, screen, bag, transport |
| Equipment overhead | No yard, no heavy-equipment fleet | Yard, turners, screeners, baggers |
| Bagging & resale | None — used where it lands | Bagged and sold at retail markup |
| Cost per yard to the farmer | Lower — no yard or bagging overhead | Higher — retail price includes overhead |
Contact Us
Have questions? Let's talk compost — call +1 713-822-3398 or send a message.
food waste (EPA)
diverted
No Contract
Risk-Free