04/22/2026
In honor of Earth Day we thought we’d give a shout out to Ashland’s composting heroes, Big Lake Organics. The Black Cat Coffeehouse and Ashland Baking Company have been composting their food waste since the businesses began 30 years ago. We originally donated our waste to Hermit Creek Farm. When Big Lake Organics started in 2021, we jumped at the opportunity to contribute to their cause. As a commercial composter, their facility can process compostable packaging and we were excited to switch to a more earth friendly option for much of our packaging and disposables. It’s always been important to us to do our part in reducing our contribution to the landfill and Big Lake Organics makes the whole process easy. In 2025, our Chapple Avenue businesses diverted 27,317 lbs. of organic waste from entering the landfill. This is a monthly average of 2280 lbs. and is equivalent to 19,532 lbs. of CO2 not being released into the atmosphere. Big Lake Organics offers residential and commercial composting services. You can purchase their finished compost directly from the source or buy it from the Chequamegon Food Co-op.
To learn more about Big Lakes Organics, here is an excerpt from their website.
“Big Lake Organics grew out of the composting program at Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin. Almost thirty years ago, students started the campus composting program which eventually became part of the Hulings Rice Food Center. By 2020 the demand for both compost collection and finished compost in the Chequamegon Bay region had far outpaced the capacity of the college’s compost infrastructure. In the true spirit of business incubation, the college had proven the value of a compost business and it was ready to spin-off as it’s own business. That’s where Todd Rothe and Jamie Tucker, co-founders of Big Lake Organics and Northland alumni, stepped in. Launched in 2021, Big Lake Organics set out to divert as much organic waste from the landfill as possible, and turn it into rich, healthy soil that can help to protect our water, stabilize the climate, and grow nutritious food.”
