Organic Waste Recycling: $200M Raised + Scaling Cities’ Compost Markets

Discover how Atlas Organics turns food & yard waste into profitable compost — leveraging public-private partnerships, strategic investors, & founder grit to scale nationwide.My guest today is Joseph McMillin, Cofounder and CEO of Atlas Organics.Atlas Organics is a national leader in organic waste recycling. Their key partner is Generate Capital, a multi-billion-dollar sustainable infrastructure investor.Joseph is also a member of the Climate Mastermind peer groups we run at Entrepreneurs for Impact with three dozen growth-stage CEOs and investors tackling climate change.In this episode, we talked about the following:His purchase of an old school bus, which he renovated and drove across the country during Covid, with his wife, young son, and four dogs (woah!)The importance of his earliest investors – such as Closed Loop and Gratitude Railroad – having confidence that he and his partner would land on the right business model to scale organic waste recyclingTheir evolution from collecting food waste in a truck to doing public-private partnerships to handle cities’ waste and buying existing organic waste processing facilities across the countryHow his projects earn revenue, and which revenue sources are contracted versus the spot marketThe role of city and state mandates and voluntary targets in driving greater organic waste recyclingHow their talent and operational processes have been influenced by books, such as Mastering the Rockefeller Habits: What You Must Do to Increase the Value of Your Growing Firm, as well as the interview practices described in topgradingHis ideal morning routine of exercise, journaling, meditation, and reflection – if he’s able to get up at 4:45 amAnd lots moreHope you enjoy.And give Joseph a shout-out on LinkedIn, Slack, or Twitter by sharing this podcast with your people.---Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential.Our two offerings include:Climate CEO Mastermind Peer Groups — Our invite-only cohorts of 12 executives catalyze personal development and business growth via monthly meetings, annual retreats, and 1:1 coaching and strategy calls. Today’s highly curated Mastermind members represent over $8B in market cap or assets under management.Newsletter — A 3-minute weekly summary of climate tech, startups, better habits, and deep work.Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 4x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 70,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself.