It's a Dirty Job - but Holly Taylor is Delighted to Do It!

By Roberta Nubile

An artistic background is not required to run a composting business, but Holly Rae Taylor's love of art has served her well as general manager of Intervale Compost Products, a non-profit social venture of the Intervale Center in Burlington. As an abstract artist, her aesthetic sense brings beauty to a, well, dirty job. She genuinely appreciates "just how many shades of brown there are" in the fresh compost produced outside her office window.

Under Taylor's direction for the past three years, the Intervale Compost site has achieved a sense of composition and balance. A delivery truck, minding the "no dust" signs, ambles slowly into the circular driveway, gets weighed on an invisible road scale, pulls into a dock symmetrically flanked by bulking material, and then ceremoniously dumps its precious offerings, food waste from a local restaurant. Compost windrows - long piles aligned and mixed by machine - are lined up neatly by an excavator, and pristine farm buildings with colorful signs add contrast to the mostly brown palette. The smell is earthy, like a healthy farm. White gulls soar overhead, the sun is shining, there are abundant pink rose bushes and gardens and lush green grass and wood sculptures. Is it true - is this compost site… a beautiful sight to behold?

It is not incidental that Intervale Compost Products is a pleasurable place to visit, and to work. Taylor sees personnel satisfaction as integral to a successful venture. "The gardens are not just for the customers to enjoy, they are for the people who work here, to be able to have a visually beautiful work environment," she says. "It's important to me that I am improving the quality of life for ten people." Livable wages, staff retreats, and a workplace kitchen are part of Taylor's ethical commitment as a manager.

The perfect cyclical nature of composting is not lost on Taylor. She sees the science of composting - the microbial action that yields that black gold, along with the chemical balancing of nitrogen and carbon - as a miraculous thing. Under her direction, Burlington residents' kitchen and yard waste, food scraps from local restaurants, supermarkets and food manufacturers, and manure from local farms all evolve into a new form of American beauty. Taylor studied plant botany as an undergraduate and did her master's research in phytoremediation, the breakdown of pollutants in water by plants - a process similar to soil composting.

"Holly used her passion for the science to figure out what was needed with the business. She proved she was more than capable - and she came into this job facing many challenges," says Will Raap, founder of Gardener's Supply Company and honorary founding member of Intervale Compost.

When an opening for general manager appeared three years ago, the company faced infrastructure, financial, and product quality problems. Taylor considered applying for the position. Though she had worked at Intervale Compost for three years as sales and production coordinator, she lacked a business and managerial background, and had no obvious transferable skills to take those issues on.

But when Taylor thought more about the position, "it all just clicked. I was activated on many levels, and I wanted it." Kit Perkins, executive director of the Intervale Center, knew Taylor could pull it off, and advocated for her. "She'd had a ton of ideas prior to taking the position, without authority to make them happen. Now given the chance, and with the help of a terrific staff, she has restored and transformed Intervale Compost - the site is finally functional, and is now an attractive retail outlet. Through her commitment to composting, she has made this business not only successful, but environmentally sound as well."

In the last year, Taylor has overseen renovation of the entire facility. She upgraded or purchased new equipment, replacing all but two machines. She initiated the widespread use of biodiesel in the machines and wrote up an accompanying protocol. She was surprised to find herself enjoying the creative and competitive aspects of marketing. She cultivated a lawn and garden at the compost site, on what had previously been a mound of dirt. And, she increased sales by a whopping 44 percent.

Taylor also promotes outreach and education around composting. She has initiated a well-received program with preschoolers to teach children about composting and recycling. She taught a class in heavy equipment operating for Vermont Works for Women's Rosie's Girls program, a trades and empowerment camp for girls. She plans to expand the Intervale Compost education program, and sees great potential to involve students in school composting.

As both general and daily operations manager, Taylor is the one who sees the big and little pictures; the one who makes financial and budget decisions, and the one who notices and addresses things like dust in the road and rose bushes that need mulching.

Growing up in rural Whiting, Vermont, Taylor's family always had a garden, raised their own beef, and canned and preserved their food. Taylor was a 4H kid who proudly showed her heifers at the Addison County Fair. In short, she is comfortable getting her hands dirty, whether with soil or paint. When asked how she feels about her job now, she answers without a pause, "I love it." Taylor's vision for Intervale Compost Products is for it to be "part of a growing wave of interest from both the state level, and the local community, to recycle more organic waste." With Taylor at the helm, that wave promises to be a far-reaching one.

Intervale Compost products started 20 years ago as a joint venture between Gardener's Supply Company and the City of Burlington, and is a non-profit social venture of the Intervale Center. For more information about Intervale Compost Products visit www.intervalecompost.org.

Roberta Nubile is a freelance writer living in Charlotte.