Breaking New Grounds seeks to address both the economic and the environmental needs of the metropolitan Louisville area.  Louisville is the largest city in Kentucky and a regional hub for Kentucky and Southern Indiana.  Louisville is a city rich in resources – a vibrant arts community, a growing parks system, attractive neighborhoods, a solid school system, and strong local businesses that (like Heine Brothers’ Coffee) provide significant resources to the community that sustains them. 

Louisville also has real challenges as a community. Despite the wealth of resources, 14% of the population lives below the federal poverty line of just over $19,000 for a family of four (2006 American Communities Survey). This represents an increase from the 2000 census when 12% of the population lived below the poverty line.  It also means that these families, and others, are struggling to meet some of their basic necessities – like shelter, clothing or food.  

In Louisville, full-time employment doesn’t necessarily provide financial security. Over 17% of families with children and one worker in the family live in poverty in Louisville.  Nearly 25,000 households receive food stamps, indicating a level of food insecurity that is reflected in the 9.8 million pounds of food distributed by Dare to Care last year alone.

It is also true that much of the poverty in Louisville is segregated into sections of the city, burdening some of the area’s oldest neighborhoods with the many social problems associated with poverty.  According to the 2000 census, more than 24% of the population lived in poverty in five of the city’s council districts.  All five of these districts are either in West Louisville or in the urban core.

The urban areas of Louisville also face high levels of food insecurity.  In 2005, the Community Farm Alliance conducted a community food assessment in West Louisville.  Their study found that West Louisville has far fewer grocery stores than more suburban parts of the city.  What is more, of the stores that do exist in those neighborhoods, only 25% sold food from all five basic food groups.  If those stores sold vegetables at all, they sold onions and potatoes.  Not surprisingly, the Public Health Department reports that heart disease and cancer are the two leading causes of death in West Louisville, and that obesity and asthma are the two leading health problems in the area.

At the same time some neighborhoods in Louisville are struggling, Breaking New Grounds believes that part of this community’s treasure is literally being thrown into the trash.   About 13% of the nation’s waste stream is organic matter – food scraps, grass clippings, leaves and other similar material.  This garbage costs local businesses money when they pay for garbage pick up.  Perhaps more significantly, the entire community pays when the garbage is carried to landfills.

Americans generate trash at a rate of four pounds per day per person, which translates to 600,000 tons per day or 210 million tons per year. This is almost twice as much trash per person as most other major countries. Of the 210 million tons of trash generated in the United States annually about 56 million tons, or 27 percent, is either recycled or composted (this is mostly yard waste). The remaining trash is discarded and is made up of mostly paper products, plastics, yard waste and wood.  In 2001, William Rathje of The Garbage Project at the University of Arizona, reported that he had found grass clippings and heads of lettuce dating back to the 1970’s in America’s overburdened landfills.

Reducing the amount of solid waste carried to landfills has benefits for the entire community.  There is documentation of significant health risks posed to people who live near landfills.  This includes low birth weight and birth defects in California children born in census tracts having waste disposal sites.  There are also environmental risks associated with landfills.  According to a 2000 survey by Leak Location Services, 82% of landfill liners surveys had leaks, while 41% had leaks of more than 1 square foot.  When landfills leak, toxic gases – like methane – are released into the atmosphere.

The vision of Breaking New Grounds is one of transformation and empowerment. Trash from local businesses will be transformed into treasure that supports good food, new business, employment, and wealth in the most depressed neighborhoods in this city.  The burden on local landfills will be reduced when local businesses have the opportunity to reduce their waste by composting organic material.