Our Story

Meet Madison and Colin!

Madison and Colin, co-founders of Dirt Cheap Compost

Colin and Madison met in 2020 at a rooftop BBQ.

Madison, a Green RealtorŽ at the time, had just launched a new podcast, Eco-Friendly Homes. When she found out that Colin was Founder of Sheets & Giggles, a Denver-based sustainable bedding brand famous for its Eucalyptus sheets, she asked to interview him on her podcast!

Yada yada yada... the wedding's in April. (April 2024 update: we did it!!)

Madison and Colin at Red Rocks on date #5. Yes, we do nauseate our friends.

Now with a home of their own (thanks Madison!), Madi and Colin search for endless ways to make their own household as sustainable as possible. Solar panels, efficient lighting, no-VOC paint, electrification... and of course, home composting.

While Denver County now offers taxpayer-funded home compost pickup along with trash and recycling (hooray!), Jefferson County does not.... nor do most counties adjacent to Denver.

After having had their price raised 3x in 2 years by another local compost pickup service, one day Madison asked Colin: "We're going to pay $500/year just for someone to come by our house once a week and pick up our compost... why don't we just do this ourselves?"

Colin, a serial entrepreneur (read: ADHD), immediately lit up, and Dirt Cheap Compost's business plan was finished by midnight. One thing that stuck out was the margin: we realized we could build a modest small business / financially viable passion project at under $30 per customer, and under $25/month for annual plans.

Overall, we're busy people (Colin now runs 4 businesses, and on her off days Madison models professionally... in between her archeology digs!). We do these pickups for fun and for our community, so we're not really trying to build a massively profitable business out of DCC or anything (*note: but Colin says that if you need new sheets, we won't stop you). So we'll keep prices low, operate a professional business with great customer care (it's not hard to be nice to people), and keep building DCC's membership organically one home at a time.

It's awesome to meet our neighbors, get more involved locally, and make Colorado a more sustainable place to live. Nothing like putting your hands in the (nutrient-rich) dirt!

At Anderson Park in Wheat Ridge!

Someone call HR