Our Mission

Back2TheDirt aims to reduce food waste that ends up in the landfill and create high quality worm castings that benefit plant and soil health. 

Producing worm castings from food waste restores the ancient cycle of waste going back to the dirt and adding nutrients to the soil. Just as Nature intended.

Meet the Team

Katie Jacobs
Owner & Operator

A Cincinnati native and nature-lover, Katie is excited to combine her passion for reducing waste with her background in science &  agriculture.

Katie graduated with a B.A. in Biochemistry from Earlham College. She previously worked in an Agroecosystem Lab at the University of Kentucky and interned Gorman Heritage Farms in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Katie hopes that her business will inspire others to compost and will  contribute to needed "green infrastructure" in the area.

Zach Jacobs
Compost Cabbie

Zach is our compost cabbie extraordinaire. He helps pick up full compost buckets and delivers your food and paper scraps to the worms.

When he is not driving routes, he is likely working on his music. Zach plays the guitar, drums, and piano, and is quick to pick up a  new song.

If you see him out and about, give him a wave!

 E. hortensis
Worker Worms

Our European Nightcrawlers (Eisenia hortensis) do one of the most important jobs of all at our operation--they break down the food waste into microbe-rich castings.

They are strictly vegan and can eat nearly 1/2 of their weight in food everyday.

Our Story

I initially started worm composting when I moved into a new apartment in an area with no public composting. Amazed at the speed and small space requirements of worm composting, I became interested in its potential to process large amounts of food waste. When I moved back to Cincinnati, I realized I wanted to do something different. With so many issues facing the world and so few jobs available to tackle them, I decided to create my own business. With that, Back2TheDirt was born.
​In February 2021, the business won the Hamilton County's Waste Reduction Innovation Grant. The grant funds projects in the Cincinnati area aimed at reducing landfill waste. I plan to use this year to launch the business. If you are interested in following my journey, check back into this website or join our e-newsletter.

Katie

See Our Journey

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Founding Principles

Earth-Friendly Our business' goal is to improve the health of our environment. We compost organic waste that would otherwise be thrown in a landfill. This reduces the methane and nitrous oxide emissions, both potent greenhouse gases. From this waste, we produce worm castings. They can be used as an organic soil amendment that improves the nutrient, microbial, and physiological profile of the soil. Our impact on the environment is factored in to all of our business decisions.

Community-Focused We want our business to make a positive impact on our local Greater Cincinnati area. Due to this, we look for opportunities to educate about worm composting and waste reduction. We are also open to collaborate with community members on related projects. We recognize that "closing the loop" and creating a circular economy will require us to collaborate and innovate together.

Transparent We aim to help our customers make informed decisions. All of our products will list the ingredients added. As the business progresses we plan to do more testing on our castings and soil mixes, so customers can know how to use them best.