Today we’d like to introduce you to Aubrey Fornwalt

Hi Aubrey, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.

As I moved towards high school graduation, I wanted a creative profession and thought that graphic design would be the right fit for me. I received a BFA in communication design from Kutztown University in 2008 and had a job at a free daily start-up tabloid in Baltimore in the height of the recession. I felt lucky to just have a job, let alone a job in the newspaper industry. Newspapers were dealing with constricting staff, role reassignment, shrinking subscribers and competition from internet content. I worked with people with the job title “user generated content wrangler” while I was a “page architect.” These creative titles were put in place so that our little paper staff didn’t fall under any conflicting job titles that the Baltimore Sun’s union staff already held. It was a mildly contentious atmosphere. When I was really beginning to feel unhappy, a newspaper on Long Island, Newsday, reached out with a job offer. I packed it all up and moved to the center of the island where I was 20 minutes from either the north or south shore beaches. (I miss that part a lot.) But while I lived there, I experienced hurricane Irene and Superstorm Sandy. Walking through a grocery store with little food stocked on shelves and waiting your day to get gas and not knowing when your electricity would come back on were eye-opening experiences. Living on an island felt less wise. I was also dropped into a more corporate atmosphere which I was beginning to learn that I didn’t quite fit. I already didn’t feel I quite belonged on Long Island.

While on a little vacation from my job at Newsday, I traveled in early October to Montauk. My goal was to watch the sunrise from the boulders at the very tip of the southern fork. I stayed at Montauk Manor which was all decked out in Halloween decor and looked perfectly spooky. It was such a quiet time of year for Montauk. Everyone seemed to have the space and time to finally breathe again, and I think I did as well. After I climbed over giant rocks and boulders amongst the fisherman at 4:45 in the morning, I got to see an amazing sunrise. It was so epicly peaceful. Grateful to have witnessed it, I crossed that off my bucket list, found a good hearty breakfast and continued my sojourn to Sag Harbor and that’s when my epiphany struck: I want to compost. Just that simple.

There is purpose in a tangible task, and what I had been doing at the paper was being pushed more and more to virtual, to search engine optimization, to likes/clicks/views. I felt little satisfaction, but what I felt we needed more were people on the mission to reduce food waste and wasted food in landfills. I saved up a bunch of money that year, didn’t renew my lease at my apartment of 6 years and moved myself and my dog, Marley, back to my parents’ house — as I affectionately refer to as “A Millennial’s Dream.”

While I began with the intent to compost, I realized that that approach posed a lot of logistics that I was unable to accommodate: large piece of flat land, heavy equipment to move material, lots of carbon to mix with incoming material. I really only had access to my grandmother’s 100+ year old barn. While doing some light reading of a biodynamics book, I stumbled upon a snippet about black soldier fly larvae used in permaculture systems to keep all resources moving between plants and animals at a higher benefit rate. The larvae become an important protein source for fish and poultry while speedily reducing the volume of food scraps: 50-80%.

So as of 2024, my business does compost, but primarily I use this black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) bioconversion process which allows me to manage tons of material in a very small footprint. At this point, I am managing about 800-1000 pounds of food scraps per week, and looking to take on more.

Creativity is still a big part of my life. I’m frequently looking at what I can make or build, and I’ve put a lot of effort into “Gram’s Garden” this year, which is an homage to my grandmother’s vegetable garden from years ago. She passed away in November 2023. I’ve enjoyed growing flowers and vegetables in this reestablished space. I think she would have loved it — the bees and hummingbirds certainly have. Looking out into that garden is my “sunrise at Montauk” feeling over and over again.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?

This has been a very slow road. The concept of composting on an industrial scale in central Pennsylvania is pretty foreign. I have stuck with it, however. This region is typically 20 years behind the trends, and I’ve expedited this particular trend by at least 10 years. For the most part, people understand composting, and a lot of people have the time and space to do so at their homes. And for that reason, residential hauling of food scraps has been a tough market to break in to. I’m working to get to the point where I can take on more commercial contracts with local restaurants, breweries, hospitals, schools and food manufacturers.

Our local landfill takes 25,000 tons of wasted food and food scraps annually. I would like to put a small dent in that number. It will be a huge undertaking, but I strongly believe that it can and will be done. I have had conversations with young people who love to see this happening. It’s hopeful and inspiring, for both myself and them. Even I can get a little bogged down in my daily logistics and duties that I forget to see the big picture and the good that this creates.

We’ve been impressed with Full Circle Bioconversion LLC, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?

The name of the business is also the main intent of the business: Full Circle. We take food scraps and wasted food that would normally be destined for the landfill — which has a legacy of methane gas and leachate — and return these organics to our food system by the bioconversion method of black soldier fly larvae. This isn’t a typical recycling set up. Some would even call this upcycling but it’s really just letting nature do what it does best on a huge scale. Insects as pollinators are vastly important but insects as decomposers are arguably just as important. We truly need bugs in our life to keep everything in a circle.

Products that I offer are compost and also the manure from the larvae, called “frass.” I also dehydrate larvae for sale at a local feed store for birds and chickens. (A bluebird favorite!) I also haul food scraps for households and businesses. I’ll work with a business to set up a schedule to best suit their needs. Gone are the days of funky dumpsters!

Also to note, this is the first of its kind operation in Pennsylvania. It took about 2 years, but I worked with the PA Department of Environmental Protection to add this type of composting to a permit that now anyone can operate under. I have been permitted since 2020 and have diverted over 164,000 pounds of food from the landfill since.

All of this is done on my family’s farm. Years ago, “farm-t0-table” for a restaurant became a point of pride. Supporting local growers and purveyors became prioritized. Now we can say locally “this is a table-back-to-farm establishment,” which is one more point of pride. This is an asset to the community.

What’s next?

Looking ahead to 2025, I am working with the University of Delaware on a 3 year research project to measure the impact of the BSFL frass on flax growth. We are growing flax for fiber already as a trial for the PA Flax Project, an organization dedicated to the domestic growth of flax for linen.

We have also invested in some infrastructure that will allow for more material to be processed as well as the generation of more dried larvae product. So bring on more customers and feed those chickens!

I also plan to do more planting in “Gram’s Garden” because it is important to not only generate these agriculture products, but also to know what I’m selling and what it does. At the same time, I really want to keep creating a beautiful space that draws in more birds and butterflies and pollinators year after year. That is the shape of my creativity now.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.fullcirclebioconversion.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fullcirclebio/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fullcirclebioconversion
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@fullcirclebio

Image Credits

Kim Fornwalt