Getting a National Award When Choosing AL Stories > AI Bullet Points

Written By Brent Crampton

Hillside Solutions won the 2025 Organics Diversion Program of the Year Award from the US Composting Council, a national organization. At the time of writing this, they haven’t officially announced it. But it will be revealed at the USCC Conference & Tradeshow in Sacramento, California, on February 5th.

Before we submitted, our nominator asked us to provide info on why we should get the award.

My co-worker went to AI, which gave us a bullet-point list. I went for an AL (analog) story, instead.

Below is the submission that won us the award. It demonstrates the power of storytelling and persuasive copy. Enjoy! …

Nora Goldstein of BioCycle once told me we were an anomaly. I had no idea. So I asked her why. We began to make a list:

There’s a lot going on there. And I think to Nora’s point, we’re rare in that we combine all of these things while still being a local and family-owned business. Just take a look: https://youtu.be/bHRenSafEaE

Oh, and there’s one more thing Nora doesn’t know yet … we just started a non-profit. 😳

Hillside Foundation Fund is bringing composting to people, schools and organizations that can’t afford it. Nebraska has a nasty problem with nitrates in our drinking water. So we’re helping farmers do on-farm composting to reduce the use of fertilizers. And our biggest city, Omaha, is about to launch its Omaha Climate Action plan. 

To ensure our politicians don’t miss the mark, we’re organizing the local circular food system stakeholders into a coalition to present a unified and integrated pathway. Included in that will be a residential curbside food waste program that we’ll launch in the spring (!!!). 

— 

When the Nebraska Recycling Council said they wanted to nominate us, I didn’t see it coming. But now that I’ve written all these things out, I get it. And I get what Nora saw in us.

Maybe there are others out there doing this as well. I don’t know.

But I can tell you, from someone on the ground here in our community, it’s making a difference. And it feels like we’re just getting started.

Giving us this award wouldn’t just be a cool thing that sits on our shelf. It would validate our legitimacy to local politicians. Help us attract donors. And it would be a catalyst for entering a new era of sustainability and regenerative agriculture in our state. 

Your choice has the power to make that kind of change. 

— Brent Crampton, Director of Partnerships

P.S. Below are a bunch of line items that go further into detail. Please enjoy and let us know if we can provide any additional info. 

Accomplishments & Figures: 

  • 50,000 tons processed annually of food, yard, wood & certified compostable plastics

  • First and only industrial composting facility in the Omaha-area

  • 5-Star rating on Google 

  • Donated over 200 yards of finished compost back to area schools, community gardens, and urban farmers that send compostable to us through Compost Club Gives program

  • 1,800 households using 60+ community food waste drop-off sites

  • Nebraska’s first-and-only zero waste festival: we led the charge on diverting 4,754 pounds over a 2-day 11,500-person event. See how. 

  • Helped Baxter Subaru Omaha achieve title of being the only zero-waste-to-landfill Subaru dealership in the nation. See how. 

  • Helping 250 businesses get closer to zero-waste using our guide alongside our annual awards-ceremony to recognize the biggest accomplishments of our customers


Brent Crampton
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