How Good Dirt is disrupting packaging across the landscaping industry

Carlton Lawson and Justin Rigda, associates on Gabi's PALS team; Ty Beddingfield, Seed Starter at Good Dirt; Gabi Angelini, co-founder Gabi's PALS; Al and Suzy Newsom, co-founders of Good Dirt; Danny Crawford and Paul Webb, associates on Gabi's PALS team.

MEHMET DEMIRCI

About this project: The Earth + Equity project explores the growing awareness, actions and accountability of businesses and leaders who face opportunities and challenges relating to environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. The 52-week project will highlight what selected companies and Triangle executives are doing to address climate change, diversity, equity, inclusion, and ways to maneuver the new world of corporate responsibilities.

Even with a degree in horticulture that included an emphasis on landscape horticulture, Al Newsom had difficulty growing top-quality plants at home. That was before he created the recipe for perfected potting soil, Good Dirt, that he and his wife/business partner, Suzy, have grown into a sustainable business.

Good Dirt revenue approached $2 million in 2022, as they added the Grove Collaborative marketplace to their sales channels and launched 12 new SKUs – including Drop & Gro seeds, nutrition tablets and compostable self-feeding seeder pots. Sales of its products at Target have tripled since the big-box behemoth put Good Dirt products on its shelves in 2019. And in 2022, Gabi's PALS, the Raleigh-based nonprofit that employs 46 individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, began handling fulfillment for Good Dirt.

The original idea for Good Dirt germinated as Newsom changed out landscape containers every spring and fall, discovering each time that the root system hardly existed and the soil was wet and dense, basically muck. He was dumping out the muck and starting over each season, so the N.C. State University alum and veteran consultant for century-old Ball Horticultural Company decided to learn why.

"Pine bark, which is in 99 percent of the potting mixes nationwide, was the culprit. It breaks down quickly, takes up air space, holds too much water and creates poor drainage," Newsom explains.

Good Dirt's solution is a secret ingredient called BogBits, a byproduct of peat moss sourced from northern Canada. When the peat moss is harvested, vegetation that has existed for thousands of years in anaerobic conditions is sifted out.

"It's almost like petrified wood that we can process into wood fiber and, mixed in with peat moss, it creates a structure that doesn't break down," he said.

After replacing the pine bark used in traditional potting soil with BogBits, Good Dirt becomes a more resilient, effective medium for in-ground and container landscaping.

But creating better dirt that promoted healthier plants was just the beginning. The real mission is to become a sustainability leader in consumer gardening – and debunking green myths in the process, like the perception that harvesting peat is inherently harmful to the planet.

Canadian peat is harvested by utilizing a non-invasive vacuum technology that is entirely different than the disastrous block-cutting process that destroyed Europe's peatlands and contributed to the release of significant amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere.

"Our vacuuming process is taking a very small amount of peat moss off the surface in Canada," Suzy Newsom said – in contrast to the poor practices in Europe that resulted in dug-out carbon basins. Harvesting peat, as well as the historic practice of using dried peat for fuel, are now banned in Europe due to the environmental impacts.

"Sustainability is at the center of every new product we have," she said, adding their ultimate goal is to become plastic-free. "In the meantime, we strive to minimize plastic and be plastic-neutral."

They didn't feel good about using plastic bags for Good Dirt – the de facto standard for potting soils in the landscape industry – and ultimately landed on their Dirt in a Box product, released in January.

"It was important to us that it wasn't just the box; it had to be self-compostable … and we researched several ways of isolating the moist soil from the cardboard box before coming up with a liner that is from 100-percent recycled materials, not from virgin plastic," Suzy Newsom said.

Good Dirt

Co-founders: Suzy and Al Newsom

Registered name: Full Cycle Gardening

Location: 1500 Brookside Drive, Raleigh

Website: getgooddirt.com

Email: [email protected]

2022 Revenue: < $2 million

Employees: 4 full-time; 1 part-time

Initially they explored plant-based plastic for the liners, but plant-based plastics are not biodegradable. "Our focus is on post-consumer recycled materials and circularity, if plant-based plastics are not properly recycled in special facilities, they still add plastic to landfills," she adds.

Dirt in a Box is made from post-consumer waste corrugate, sourced locally, and the liner is post-consumer waste plastic. Gabi's PALS does the assembly and packaging for Dirt in a Box orders as well as the Drop and Gro line of compostable pots and seed packets.

The Dirt in a Box initial fulfillment to Target (NYSE: TGT) stores was a particularly big job – from making the boxes, adding the liners, filling with dirt and sealing for shipment.

"We emptied bags of dirt into a humongous bin, with people on both sides scooping dirt into the boxes," said Mary Angelini, who co-founded the nonprofit along with her daughter, Gabi. "It was months of work and we easily had 10 to 15 people working on any given day, but they liked getting their hands in the dirt and everyone talked about how good the dirt smelled."

Good Dirt fulfillment often requires meticulous steps, like counting tiny seeds – the size of a period, Angelini says – and putting the required number into seed packets and sealing them. "We’d love to do more jobs like this with other companies," she adds. And despite labor shortages in other businesses, expanding their 46-person staff would not be difficult: "The more people we can hire with special abilities the better, 80 percent of them are sitting at home and would love to work," Angelini said.

Good Dirt sells direct to consumers from its website, processing those orders at its Raleigh headquarters, but the bulk of business is to retailers, including online partners Grove Collaborative, Park Seed, Wayside Gardens, and Jackson & Perkins, plus more than 200 independent retail accounts throughout the U.S. and locally at Zen Succulent in Raleigh and Durham and Leaf Plant Shop in Clayton. With a presence in more than 1,800 Target stores, the national chain represents the largest share of Good Dirt revenue. Target picks up Good Dirt's bagged products from Canada, the plant food from Good Dirt's zero-waste manufacturing facility in Texas, and Dirt in a Box and other specialty SKUs from Gabi's PALS.

"We’ve been profitable since year two … and now as we start to scale the business, we would consider taking on investors," said Suzy Newsom.

"Next, we’re coming out with two more potting mixes that will also be in a corrugated box – a seed-starting mix and a succulent potting mix. We encourage people to flatten the boxes and use as a weed barrier, it breaks down quickly and actually improves the soil," said Al Newsom, adding that waste corrugate from their office goes to Raleigh City Farm where it is repurposed into mulch throughout the farm.

Timeline

2014: Company formed

2016: Prototypes unveiled

2017: Began operations and selling

2019: Sold in Target stores (now in 1,800+ Target stores)

2022: Debuted at Grove Collaborative

2022: Launched 12 new SKUs, including: Drop & Gro seeds; nutrition tablets; compostable self-feeding seed-starting pots

2022: Began working with Gabi's PALS (packaging, assembling, labeling, shipping)

1Q 2023: Launched Dirt in a Box