Sectors: Product, Retail, Sustainability
Year Launched: 2018
Founders: Taylor McCarten (left), Harmen Zijlstra and Christopher Moreno (not pictured)
Unique Selling Proposition: Better smelling compost product. BinBreeze is an organic and naturally scented blend of untreated wood waste, minerals and silicates that is added to compost to reduce odour.
Website: www.binbreeze.com
Award sponsor: Monk Office
Taylor McCarten walked into his parents’ kitchen and discovered a foul smelling compost bin ridden with fruit flies on the counter. This fetid bin inspired McCarten to start a business that made composting easier for Canadians and that would also help improve perceptions of sustainability while benefitting the planet.
As the son and grandson of carpenters and gardeners, McCarten is no stranger to burning wood waste for disposal. He came to the conclusion that wood waste would make the perfect base for a powder formula that could encourage aerobic(healthy) decomposition while reducing stinky, methane-producing anaerobic decomposition in compost bins. Sourcing wood waste that would otherwise be burnt could prevent carbon emissions upstream, improve the composting experience for the consumer and reduce the methane emissions of the waste prior to its arrival at a composting facility.
After conducting research and product development alongside UVic chemist Harmen Zijlstra, McCarten created a functioning and viable product by the time he graduated with his MBA in June of 2019. BinBreeze uses an organic mineral and wood formula to effectively dehydrate and kill fruit flies without the use of chemical pesticides and instantly neutralizes odours from the bin. “The business is for me a gateway to a better life in which I feel good about the work that I am doing and myself,” says McCarten.
“The business is my self-actualization and part of a larger contribution I hope to make to society and the planet.”
