About

Where do we begin ?

The story reaches back into the far reaches of time, with the practice of compost being integral to life as we know it for thousands upon thousands of years. This core belief and action, that nothing is truly disposable, that nothing dies, only giving life to the fertile loam of tomorrow’s breath, underlies our entire existence. Along the path of industrialization and disconnect, our rift with land, people and being as whole tore asunder our holistic flow of the unbroken circle, and left us with the shards of modern living and its contained struggles.

Nowhere is this maybe more evident that in the urban landscapes of today, and the rust belt of the midwestern united states holds the broken illusory promises of progress readily visible. The city of Cleveland’s illustrated vibrancy of industrial growth and collapse litter the land, and it seems fitting to see the gleaming flickers of new growth manifest as compost and memory, intertwined.

Rust Belt Riders as an organization is graced with being one small aspect of this return, gathering scraps on bicycles over a decade ago with a small rag-tag crew, hurtling through locations and processes, and arriving in this present moment with a team comprised of over three dozen humans, handfuls of trucks and untold numbers of microscopic bacteria, fungi, insects and more.

As always, everything turns again - join us as we dive deep into the muck, and let the memory of the past bloom in tomorrow’s light.

Founded with the intention of seeing the world in a different way, one not new at all but actually much older, in closer relationship with life and death and living, the endless tale of compost, Rust Belt Riders began along the northern banks of the Cuyahoga with not much more than wheels and determination (it’s where the name comes from, we get asked all the time). Along the way, as the years continued to wear away, a few gathered a few more, engines began to become involved, scraps continued to gather, and the story continued.