Challenger Club Wins Entrepreneurial Pitch Contest
Apr 10, 2020
Cape Cod Challenger Green Fertilizer won first place in the entrepreneurial pitch contest held April 1 and sponsored by the philanthropic foundation Entrepreneurship for All South Coast. The first place prize was $1,000.
The Cape Cod-based garden fertilizer is an extension of the Cape Cod Challenger Club, a nonprofit based in Osterville. Held virtually, owing to the current COVID-19 pandemic, the online contest was a community event held to help early-stage entrepreneurs gain exposure and feedback on their business ideas.
Cape Cod Challenger Green Fertilizer is made from 100 percent recycled food waste from Barnstable High School and Spalding Rehab Hospital in Sandwich. Since its founding more than 25,000 pounds of food waste has been turned into three specific fertilizer formulas: hydrangea, tomato and all purpose.
Students from Christine Spence’s special education transitional program at Barnstable High School produce the fertilizer, gaining job skills. Each school day the students process the food waste and load it into a commercial dehydrator. After the machine cycles the food waste, it is an odorless, nutrient-rich mulch. The only byproduct is water.
It is then transported to the Challenger Club facility in Osterville, where it is mixed with a byproduct from Spalding Rehab Hospital and additional nutrients are added and blended. From there members of the Challenger Club label and package the final product, ready for sale at Cape garden stores.