Beloit Composting 1

Beloit College Composting Project

An independent student assessment of theviability of food waste composting in

Commons Dining Hall

Luke McGinnis CateDrew Pitney Higginson

Beloit CollegeBeloit WI, 53511

May 1, 2005

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Contents

Acknowledgments

History of The Beloit College Composting Project:Composting Feasibility at Beloit College

Appendices:Appendix 1: Introduction to Institutional Composting

Appendix 2: City of Beloit Municipal Code

Appendix 3: Useful People

Appendix 4: Interviews

I. Tuesday, February 17, 2004: Ken Jones, Director of Physical Plant

II. Thursday, February 19, 2004: Bill Behling, Director of Food Service

III. Thursday February 26, 2004: Peter Kraemer, Executive Chef

Appendix 5: Online Resources

Appendix 6: Earth Tub® Information

Appendix 7: Waste Audit Set-up and Summary

Waste audit supplies/ Set-up Information

Picture of the set-up used in Commons Dinning Hall

Waste Audit Data Chart

Waste Audit Graphs: Meals Served in Commons/Waste Stream Composition

Appendix 8: Cost Savings Summary

Appendix 9: Composting Brochure

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From Filth… … to Fertilizer

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Acknowledgments

The often-quoted Margaret Mead once said “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizenscan change the world. Indeed, it is the only that that ever has.” The journey to attempt composting has been arduous,but along the way we have encountered many people who fit Mead’s definition of world-changers. If not for NatalieGummer, Luke’s FYI advisor, he may never have had the idea to begin a composting project. Her excitement andsupport helped propel Luke and give the project its first legs. Yaffa Grossman has officially advised us on and offwith different special projects, but she has always been a supporter of our project. Yaffa kept us on our toes and keptus thinking about different ways to present our findings and guided us to different steps to take along the road.

Making real, lasting changes in an infrastructure takes not only activism from the outside, but also relies onthe good faith and support of the staff that is a part of that infrastructure. At Beloit College, we have been extremelyfortunate to have staff that are friendly, easy to talk to, and who are not afraid to contribute to and support a new ideafrom a couple of students. Bill Behling, Director of Food Service, has given us free reign to do waste audits and hasbeen supportive, yet firm about what he can and can’t do, always with a smile. He has researched a lot of informationfor us and has been a great ally to have on our side. Ken Jones, Director of Physical Plant, has also give his precioustime to do interviews and research different costs for us, as well as printing up different documents. We only ran intoJohn Nicholas, Vice President for Administration and Treasurer, near the end of our project, but he was open andwilling to listen to our ideas and give suggestions of his own. John pointed out some very important details that wehad been missing. John was also helpful in using his resource to connect us to the Town of Beloit. Bea Lengjak,Recycling Coordinator for the Town of Beloit, has gone to great ends to look up different possibilities for composting.Bea took us to a “Talk and Tour” in Milwaukee and she has put a lot of time and effort into helping us. She may holdthe future of composting.

Finally, none of the project could have worked without the grunt labor to hold it up. Below are the names ofthe wonderful volunteers that committed to our Waste Audits and took their precious time to help us with somethingthat they believed in.

Jenny AginTanya BellMelissa DahlBecky DewingCarolyn GennaricStuart EvansGrace HallRuth Hamilton

Jessica HansenPaul HansenAlex HooverLisa JohnstonMeg KileyJulia Leavengood-BoxerMelissa MagnuskiColleen McGroarty

Laura PetersonAnne RogersRebecca SchaefferJess SheldonJean TaggartEllen UnderwoodLaura Zeiger

Introduction

Luke Cate and Drew Pitney Higginson are sophomores at Beloit College in Beloit, WI, in Spring 2005.They initiated the Beloit College Composting Project in Spring 2004. The purpose of their project was tobring composting to their college cafeteria. This report is the culmination of three semesters of theirresearch. As they have not yet established a composting system, this paper is intended to providebackground knowledge to anyone interested in continuing the Beloit College Composting Project. It shouldalso be a resource to composting advocates in other locations. Drew and Luke are both leaving after Springsemester 2005, Drew permanently and Luke for a semester or two. In the following pages Drew and Lukeeach give their own description of the history of their project with Luke in standard font and Drew in italics.

Luke: The Beloit College Composting project had its roots in my “First Year Initiatives (FYI)” interdisciplinaryseminar. This class had “Personal Choice and Global Responsibility” as its theme, and each of us had to designand implement a community service project dealing with issues of citizenship and action. My first project, acommunal bike fleet to be built out of donated and abandoned bicycles and maintained by students, lostmomentum after my first year, due to prolonged institutional delays and bureaucratic barriers to getting aworkspace, as well as waning interest on my own part and the part of my collaborating classmate.

The idea of composting food waste from Commons was obvious to me from the first meal I ate there. Infact, I was pretty surprised that there was no composting going on. My family does composting at home, and boththe summer camps I have been involved with in various capacities (camper, then counselor) since I was 11 yearsold also revolve around responsible use of resources and giving back to the earth.Drew: My personal effort toward the composting project started with me saying “Why don’t we have compostingat Beloit?” Coming from a green oriented family in the Pacific Northwest, it was hard for me to come toWisconsin where people are not as knowledgeable about environmental issues and lifestyles. I became frustratedby walking past laundry rooms, study lounges and bathrooms where the lights were always left on. It seemed liketoo much work to get the administration to post signs and stickers to educate the campus. So I simply made somemyself and posted them near the public light switches. It was with this do-it-yourself or it-won’t-get-done attitudethat I began thinking about how I should go about implementing a composting program at Beloit College.

The story of composting has been ridden with challenges, bureaucracy, inability to create momentumand just plain bad luck. Has anything positive come of this? For me I suppose that it has been a learningexperience about the importance of vision and preparation for the “unthinkable” things that can take place. Also,I have enjoyed working with Luke, despite our few arguments, and it has been encouraging to work with someonewith such a persistent desire for sustainability.

The Beginning

Luke: My interest in seriously looking at starting a composting program at Beloit College was sparked byNatalie Gummer, my FYI instructor. I mentioned to her my dismay that the cafeteria had no composting system inplace. She was very enthusiastic about a student researching and coordinating a composting system. Natalie is apassionate gardener and has several small in-vessel composters in her yard.

Natalie’s excitement convinced me to do a special project my second semester. I researched institutionalcomposting methods, and did interviews with Beloit staff and administration to assess the specific situation atBeloit in order to recommend an appropriate system for the College. Yaffa Grossman in Biology advised me forthe special project, directing me to previous student projects on campus sustainability as well as online sourcescompiled by other colleges and universities. The institutional composting methods I researched includedvermiculture (worm composting), in-vessel composting, and variations on outdoor windrow composting (seeAppendix 1: Introduction to Institutional Composting). I read about the processes that other institutions had gonethrough in setting up composting. Some were student initiatives, others started with a passionate faculty memberor conscientious physical plant director1. In some cases, the director of the food service was the one who had theidea and who led the effort.

1 Bartlett, Peggy; Chase, Geoffrey W. (eds.). 2004. Sustainability on Campus. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Agreat book about campus greening efforts at diverse institutions.

Composting Feasibility at Beloit College

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About midway through spring 2004, I had a chance encounter with an acquaintance in the Chapincomputer lab. It turned out that Drew was also interested in getting the campus to compost and had beenresearching on his own. We decided to band together to pursue the initiative and we worked together informallyfor the rest of the semester.Drew: When I met Luke in the computer lab, I had recently written an email to my cousin Joel asking about thecomposting project he started as a student at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. Joel was excited about my ideaand gave me a lot of advice. It turns out he did a lot of the work all by himself and had problems gettingconsistent volunteers, perhaps a foreshadowing of difficulties in our future. It was while reading one of Joel’semails in the computer lab that I happened across my friend Luke Cate and our united efforts began.

From the beginning we knew that there were going to be challenges. The Municipal code of Beloit statesthat it is illegal to compost anything other than “raw fruit, vegetable scraps, coffee grounds and tea leaves"(Appendix 2: Municipal Code). We wanted to compost more than this; we wanted to compost at least cooked foodsand hopefully meat. I thought that these laws were simply old and outdated, so I called the city manager. To mydismay, the laws were not outdated and the city manager felt strongly that composting was a bad thing. However,Luke’s special project advisor, Yaffa Grossman, told us that the college carries a lot of weight in the community.She said it would not be difficult to get a variance to the code once we had an idea of what we wanted. Luke and Idecided to continue. We thought that once we had found a good system and gotten the logistics squared away thenwe could ask for a variance to the code.Luke: We wanted to check with staff about composting feasibility. I interviewed the director of Physical Plant,Ken Jones (Appendix 3: Useful People), about current waste management procedures including trash and yardwaste disposal, concerns about a composting system on campus and the use of finished compost in campuslandscaping. I interviewed director of Food Services, Bill “Food Dude” Behling about the number of meals servedper day in Commons, the quantity of food waste produced, and trash bin emptying procedures. I later interrogatedCommons Head Chef Peter Kraemer about the possibility of doing an audit of Commons food waste in order toquantify it more precisely than previous estimates. For transcripts of these interviews see Appendix 4: Interviews.Drew: Luke had a list of college composting websites and I knew of some schools through talking with my cousin(Appendix 5: Online Resources). However, many places did not fit the description of Beloit College. Most Schoolsused open-air systems that take up a lot of room and can create odors. This would not work in the residential areaof Beloit, where there is little space. After reviewing different types of systems (Appendix 1: Introduction toInstitutional Composting), we decided that an in-vessel system would be best. After much research, we decided ona system called the Earth Tub®. The Earth Tub® was the only system that we could find that would fit the sizerequirements of Beloit College (Appendix 6: Earth Tub® Information). We initially estimated that our cafeteriawould have about 500 lbs of waste per day, we later found it to be 320 lbs/day (Appendix 7: Waste Audit Set-upand Summary). Most of the systems we encountered were too big, meant for small city, or too small, meant forbackyard composting.

Waste Audits

Luke: At the beginning of the fall semester of 2004, Drew and I had a good idea of where we wanted to go. Wedecided it was necessary to do a waste audit to determine exactly how much waste was actually coming out ofCommons. Out first waste audit entailed getting volunteers to help us sort out the trash as it was brought out onthe way to the trash compactor. We wore rubber gloves and sorted the waste into five categories: meat, non-meatfood, napkins, recyclables, and non-recyclable trash. We then weighed each category using a bathroom scale.

After compiling the data from that audit and consulting Yaffa, we decided we needed more extensive dataover time to give a more accurate picture of the average waste. To this end we recruited our previous helpers aswell as additional students to help us carry out the audits. We decided to do seven waste audits over seven weeks,one on each day of the week to get a balanced estimate. We also changed the format of the waste audits. Insteadof opening the trash bags and doing all the sorting ourselves, we placed a table inside Commons near the traydump and had the students separate their trash into bins. This made our project more visible and allowed us togauge the feasibility of students separating their own trash, which they would eventually have to do with acomposting system. See Appendix 7: Waste Audit Set-up and Summary for a picture of the setup.

We reduced the number of categories to three, since we did not expect the students to have any trashbesides napkins and food waste on their trays. We made nice signs for the bins that listed the three categories:


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meat, non-meat food, and napkins. We also made laminated table flyers explaining our waste audit’s purpose andencouraging students to segregate their waste beforehand to expedite tray dumping.

During these seven waste audits we determined the number of people that were served each meal, andfrom that we found the total meals served per day (Appendix 7: Waste Audit Set-up and Summary). Weaccomplished this with the help of Jane Luety in Dining Services. Jane gave us data from the card swipe machinein Commons.

After compiling the data into a spreadsheet, we determined that the average daily waste during the schoolyear is approximately 320 lbs/day (Appendix 7: Waste Audit Set-up and Summary). This allowed us to estimatethe size and number of composting vessels that we would need to buy. We began to think about making aproposal to student government to provide funding for the purchase of the vessels. We decided to use two of theEarth Tub® units, about $8,000 each, so we knew the amount we needed to ask for. We also determined howmuch composting would save the College in waste hauling and land filling costs, and fill dirt and mulchpurchases. See Appendix 8: Cost Savings Summary for this analysis.

Funding

Luke: When we came back after winter break, in spring semester 2005, we contacted the treasurer of studentgovernment to ask that our proposal be considered for funding from the thirty thousand dollars that was extra inthe student government budget. He said that the approximately sixteen thousand dollars we were requesting wastoo much to be included in the budget committee’s recommendation, but that we could try to get money from theother proposals. This looked like a fair bid for at least part of the funds, at least until some of the student forumrepresentatives brought up the legal issues of composting within the city of Beloit.

As stated previously, composting in Beloit is limited to raw fruit and vegetable scraps, tea leaves andcoffee grounds in a vessel of no more than 125 cubic feet, 5 feet high, and at least 20 feet from any inhabitedbuilding (Appendix 2: Municipal Code). We had known this, but had gotten the impression that with theCollege’s influence it would be easy to get a variance from the city in order to go through with our project, whichincluded composting cooked food and possibly meat.Drew: Luke and I had designed a summary sheet of our project to sell the idea to students and staff or whereverwe could get funding (Appendix 9: Composting Brochure). Luke sent this information and a pamphlet that EarthTub® had sent us describing the system. Luke also sent along a note scribbled on a piece of paper. Theunprofessional nature of the note may have had an effect on the city’s decision.

All of these materials indicated that the system was air tight, that it had no smell (later we found thatsome places had had smell problems with the Earth Tub®) and that it would not let in any animals. We thoughtthat after addressing these issues, the city would understand that in using an enclosed compost system, thereasons the laws were in place would not be problems. We were wrong.

Soon after we sent in the information we received a reply and it was NO. The city attorney said that therewas no reason that they should give us a variance to the code. So here we were without a system to use and it wasillegal to do the composting.Luke: Student government wasn’t going to give any money to an illegal project, and now we couldn’t evencompost cooked food or meat on campus. We thought that it would not be worth the effort to compost just the rawscraps, and to boot, numerous businesses and institutions that had used the Earth Tub® reported that it wasunreliable and of poor construction, requiring constant repairs and maintenance. We were at a standstill for themoment.

Earth Tub® Flaws

Drew: Around the time that our request for a variance was rejected by the city, we decided that, even though weknew that the Earth Tub® was the perfect system, we should make sure that we were making the right choice. Wecontacted users of the system, just to make sure that everything was all right. We also wanted to ask them a fewquestions on the workings of the Earth Tub®. Luke and I each contacted four locations that had installed theEarth Tub® system. All of the places that we contacted either had just started using the system or had hadnegative experiences with the system. The problems included: the top of the Tub collapsing and problems with the


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auger that aerates and mixes the compost. The Department of Public Works: Santa Cruz even created a documentabout problems with Earth Tub®. http://www.dpw.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/downloads/5-operational_issues.pdf

New Plans at the Township of Beloit

Drew: These problems with the city bureaucracy led Yaffa to send us to John Nicholas, Vice President forAdministration and Treasurer of the College (Appendix 3: Useful People). It seemed like we should haveapproached John much earlier in the process because he had a lot of good ideas for us and he said that if he hadtalked to the Health Department for us that we might have had a better chance to get a variance.Luke: John had a very pragmatic view of the challenges and coordination necessary for it to succeed. He joinedus in the discussion soon after we were turned off of the Earth Tub®, and after being rejected by the city for avariance. We began to discuss the possibility of getting the city council to change the Municipal Code to allow forcomposting. This seemed unlikely given that the Health Department told us that they had had problems withcompost systems in the past. This probably meant sanitation, odor or pest problems. This path would also requirea great deal of time and effort.Drew: John also contacted the Township of Beloit where composting is not illegal. He thought that they might bewilling to connect us with a farm in the area to work out an agreement where they would compost our waste andthen could use it on their fields. During Spring Break, John talked to the Township and found that, yes, theywould be interested in looking for a farm to do composting for us.

Luke and I had already researched different organic farms in the area. We had looked at AngelicOrganics, which does its own composting, but does not have the capacity to process our amount of waste(Appendix 5: Online Resources). We also looked at Robin’s Roost Organics, run by Robin Cook, who will bedelivering fresh produce to Commons cafeteria in 2005-06. Robin said at the present time she does not haveenough capacity, but that we should contact her in fall 2005 (Appendix 3: Useful People).

Once John Nicholas got in touch with the Township, he directed us to Bob Museus who then directed usto Bea Lengjak, the recycling coordinator at the Township of Beloit (Appendix 3: Useful people).Luke: Most recently we have been talking to Bea about finding a farm, piece of land, or a pig farmer to take ourfood scraps. She generously took us to a waste liquefier demonstration event near Milwaukee sponsored byWasteCap Wisconsin. At this “Talk and Tour” we learned about the technology, which sounds great, but is stillvery expensive (Appendix 1: Introduction to Institutional Composting).

Future

Luke: John emphasized that we needed a plan as to which college department would be in charge of thecomposting in the long run, as this stable leadership would be necessary due to the transient student body.Drew: One of John’s biggest worries was about the continuity of our project and what would happen after Lukeand I graduated. I am a mechanical engineering major and am enrolled in Beloit’s 3-2 Engineering Program,meaning that spring ‘05 was my last semester. Also, Luke was planning to take a semester at minimum away fromBeloit. Luke and I discussed ways that we could get someone to continue our project. We called some meetingswith people who had helped us with the waste audits in the past. At the first meeting, no one showed up and at thesecond, only one person came. Perhaps we should have been more aggressive in our recruiting or perhaps weshould have gotten people more involved earlier. During the waste audits we had quite a bit of interest in ourproject but afterwards we were unable to keep this momentum; we really could not figure out anything for peopleto do. In the end we decided to make this report that you are reading now as complete as possible so a personwith the desire to continue our project would not have to start from scratch.Luke: I believe a long-term commitment is necessary in order to work through all the complications andcoordination necessary to implement a campus change such as composting. This commitment could come from adedicated student or group of students who work through their four years at Beloit. It could also come from a paidposition like a Recycling Coordinator or it could come from an institution-wide focus on sustainability asembodied in an official “environmental mission statement.” This approach will probably produce the most resultsin the long term, not just in waste reduction, but also in responsible purchasing, green buildings, and alternativetransportation and energy initiatives. However, even just getting an environmental mission statement wouldrequire a lot of work getting opinions, building support and awareness, and ensuring a meaningful follow-through.


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This requires time and dedication, and for students whose main focus is necessarily and explicitly on their studies,this project could be daunting.

Solutions to all the obstacles can be found, and a composting program can definitely be beneficial to theCollege, educationally, environmentally, and financially. It just needs a person or group with cooperative andcreative labor.

Suggestions

Luke: In order to sustain an effort at campus sustainability, I think the workload needs to be spread among a fewpeople. It would have helped Drew and me to have other people working to move forward when we felt burnedout. Starting a club that meets weekly and organizes fun as well as instrumental activities for its members wouldbe a great step towards sustaining an effort at composting. I also recommend that some of the new classes that arepart of the Environmental Studies major take on composting and other campus issues as class initiatives. A lot ofgood work can be done in this setting. This was just demonstrated by the green building recommendationsproduced by the interdisciplinary Sustainable Buildings course for the new science building.Drew: The main reason, in my mind, that the compost project was not implemented is because Luke and I were notable to continue with it. I think that we would have been able to build up the needed momentum to make theproject a success. I think that someone taking over the project should not have a large problem with maintaininga good volunteer base. It is important that these volunteers feel useful so that they will continue to help and willgive their ideas and time to the project. Perhaps a group with officers and weekly meetings would be optimal. Inaddition to compost, I also think that it would be great to explore ways to make people aware of their waste atCommons and to have an educational campaign to teach people to waste less food. I think that this project isfeasible if a group of people is willing to put in time and effort and steadfastly pursue the goal.

For anyone interested in continuing the Beloit College Composting Project, this manual as well as otheruseful information that Luke and I have compiled will be stored with Biology professor Yaffa Grossman.

Appendix 1: Introduction to Institutional Composting

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For composting large amounts of food, yard and landscape waste, or agriculture manure and waste, there

are several methods in common use. The first is windrow composting, which is done in an open area in large piles

or rows. The second is vermiculture, which is worm composting and done usually in large shallow trays. The third

is in-vessel composting, which uses an enclosed container to compost waste.

Windrow composting has several variations, mainly differing in the method of aeration. Static windrows

are left alone, using ambient air to provide oxygen to the microbes. Passively aerated windrows use perforated

ventilation pipes that lie underneath and through the piles to allow fresh airflow. Actively aerated windrows use

the same porous tubes as passively aerated windrows, but air is forced into these tubes by blowers. The last

variation is mechanical aeration, in which the piles are turned or mixed by a tractor in order to allow oxygen to

permeate them.

Windrows are low-tech, cheap (depending on the aeration method and sophistication of controls), and

ideal for composting large amounts of waste in rural locations. However, wastewater and leachate (liquid released

during composting) drainage must be controlled so that it does not contaminate groundwater or waterways. The

composition and moisture of the piles must be monitored to minimize odors. The only other way to control odors

is to use actively-aerated windrows that actually suck air through the pile and into the tubes. The air can then be

filtered before being released to the atmosphere.

Another large control issue is vermin. If there is meat or other types of food in a windrow, it may attract

pests. These can be mice, rats, raccoons, and possibly even scavengers like vultures. For this reason it is best to

eliminate all possible meat from the waste stream. The windrows should also be covered with a layer of bulking

agent for insulation and odor and pest control.

Vermiculture composting uses worms to eat and digest food waste. Red Wriggler type worms are the

preferred species. The worms are added to a mix of food waste and bedding agent, such as newspaper or shredded

paper. They eat their way through the food waste, and poop out “castings” that are a rich and porous type of

compost. The worms multiply in a matter of weeks to days if conditions are right. The worms are sensitive to

vibrations and light, meaning they will stop eating and reproducing if there is vibration or changing levels of light.

They also require specific levels of moisture, temperature, and pH.

Although the worms can eat through a lot of waste and produce high quality castings, they cannot live in

below freezing weather. For this reason they are not a good choice in Beloit, WI, where temperatures get to

twenty-below. There would be no place for them inside and the winters are too harsh outside.

In-vessel composting is a third option that is currently widely used at U.S. institutions. This system uses

an enclosed container to process waste. The containers range in size from several gallons for your backyard, to

hundreds of tons per day for a metropolitan composting operation. They also differ significantly in sophistication.

Some are simple cylindrical drums that are filled, allowed to sit for a few weeks or months with occasional

turning by rotating the drum, and then emptied. The most complex systems have conveyor belts, shredders,

mixers, and computerized sensors and controls. The in-vessel composters that would be sized for Commons’

Appendix 1: Introduction to Institutional Composting

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waste stream usually have some provision for loading (a hatch), mixing (an auger), aeration (blowers), emptying

(another hatch), and basic monitoring (thermometer on a stick).

The main benefits of an in-vessel compost system are odor and vermin control, insulation from cold, and

that they are eye-friendly. These benefits are essential for installation in a residential area such as the

neighborhood surrounding Beloit

Waste liquification is a technology, new to the US, that was developed in and is widely used in Europe.

There is only one such system installed in the United States as of 2005. Ecology LLC based in Glendale, WI,

installed this system and is ready for production as soon as they sell some units. Drew and Luke had the honor of

seeing this system in action at Pandl’s restaurant in Bayside, WI. We visited through a “Talk and Tour” hosted by

WasteCap Wisconsin, a recycling promotion organization.

The waste liquefier has a sink-like receptacle in the kitchen to dump waste. A vacuum mechanism draws

the waste to the main tank where it is shredded up and stored as a slurry. This system reduces worker injuries

from taking out the garbage. It also reduces kitchen clutter due to many garbage cans. The liquefied waste can be

stored in the tank, which comes in 1000, 2000, and 4000 gallon models. The end product is piped into a truck and

delivered to the end user. The liquefied waste can be sprayed or injected onto fields as a plant fertilizer, or

digested anaerobically to produce methane gas, an alternative fuel.

The main drawback of this otherwise ingenious system is its $60,000 price tag. Ecology LLC hopes,

however, that with a production run of 50 systems, the price will drop to around $25,000. For comparative

purposes, an in-vessel system of the capacity needed for Commons costs from $5,000 to $20,000.

See Appendix 5: Online Resources for sources.

Appendix 2: City of Beloit Municipal Code

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This is an excerpt from the City of Beloit Municipal Code that addresses composting:

17.06 SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT, INCLUDING RECYCLING (Rep. & recr. #1716; Am. #2473; #2880;#2961; #3024)

(1) PURPOSE. The purpose of this section is to promote the management, recycling and composting of solidwaste in accordance with §287.11, Wis. Stats., and Chapter NR 544, Wis. Adm. Code.

(2) DEFINITIONS. (Am. #3092) In this section the following terms shall have the meanings indicated below:

Composting. Controlled biological reduction of organic wastes to humus.

Compostable Materials. Leaves, grass clippings and garden debris.

(12) COMPOSTING. The purpose of this section is to promote the recycling of yard waste through compostingand to establish minimum standards for proper maintenance of compost piles and bins. All composting shallcomply with the following requirements:

(a) No compost bin shall exceed 125 cubic feet in volume and 5 feet in height.

(b) All compost piles and bins shall be so maintained as to prevent the attraction or harborage of rodentsand pests.(c) All compost piles and bins shall be so maintained as to prevent the creation of odors that wouldconstitute a public nuisance.

(d) No compost pile or bin shall be located in any yard except a rear yard. All compost piles or bins shallbe located not less than 5 from a property line or 20 from an inhabited building.

(e) No compost bin shall contain any of the following:1. Lake weeds.2. Cooked food scraps, except coffee grounds and tea leaves.3. Fish, meat or other animal products.4. Large items that will impede the composting process.

(f) The following material may be placed in a compost bin:1. Yard waste.2. Raw vegetables and raw fruits that are suitable for composting.3. Commercial compost additives.

(g) The generator of compostable materials shall be responsible for maintaining compost piles and binsunder his control in accordance with the requirements of this subsection.


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Behling, Bill AKA the Food DudeDirector of Food ServiceCommons Dining Hall - Chapin HallBeloit College(608) 363-2738

Bill is the big dude in Commons; he gives out candy bars and special catered meals. At first, Bill wasskeptical about our desire to compost. In the past, students asked him to make changes in Food Service,but would not get involved enough to see the true situation. Initially Bill said we could compost as long asvolunteer student labor did all the work (emptying and cleaning buckets, etc.). After our eight wasteaudits, he saw our commitment and seemed more willing to cooperate. Any composting of food servicewaste needs his approval. See Appendix 4: Interviews.

Cate, LukeBeloit College Composting Project [email protected] (Until May 2007, unless I don’t graduate.)[email protected] (permanent email address)(505) 989-1630 (Home phone in Santa Fe)

I am a coauthor of this paper. I hope that if you are reading it, you are interested in composting either atBeloit or another institution. I am an Environmental Studies major (the first official major!) of the class of2007. I am taking Fall semester ’05 off to participate in a racecar building club at the University of NewMexico. I will most likely be back either Spring ’06 or Fall ’06. In the meantime I can be reached throughmy parents who live in Santa Fe, NM. Call me up if you need a place to stay on your way through!

Cook, RobinRobin’s Roost [email protected]

The coming fall (2005), Robin plans to deliver fresh produce from her farm to Commons cafeteria. Weasked if she was interested in composting our waste on her farm. She said that currently it would be toolarge of a project. However, Robin said to contact her in the fall, as she may be interested in the future.

Crockett, DebAngelic [email protected]

Deb works at Angelic Organics, an organic farm near Beloit and that is connected to the college. She isthe wife of Spiritual Life director Bill Conover, which is how we got in touch with her. We asked if shewas interested in composting our waste on her farm. The farm said that it would be too much waste forthem to handle and that it would be too labor intensive.

Grossman, YaffaBiology professorChamberlin 229Beloit [email protected]

Yaffa knows a lot about environmental issues. She helped create the Environmental Studies major. Sheadvised Luke on his first special project on “Composting for Beloit?” She also advised Drew and Luke ontheir joint special project, “Beloit College On-Site Composting Initiative.” She will have the resourcesthat we used and created for the project.

Higginson, Drew PitneyBeloit College Composting Project Co-Leader(503) 502-3439 (cell phone)[email protected] (until May 2007)[email protected] (semi-permanent email address)

I co-authored this paper with Luke. I am going to be a mechanical engineering major at ColumbiaUniversity until May 2007. I do not yet have an email address there, but you could probably look one up.I wish you the best of luck in whatever type of composting project you are undertaking.


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Jones, KenDirector of Physical PlantSmith BuildingBeloit College(608) 363-2200

Luke interviewed Ken for his first special project. Ken supplied us with data on the waste haulingquantities and expenditures of the College. He evaluated the costs for installing the Earth Tub®. SeeAppendix 4: Interviews.

Kraemer, PeterCommons Head ChefCommons Dining Hall, Chapin HallBeloit College

Peter cooks a lot of the food in Commons and tells other workers what to do. Luke interviewed him forhis first special project. Peter approved and encouraged waste audits. See Appendix 4: Interviews.

Lengjak, BeaRecycling CoordinatorTown of Beloit(608) 364-2980

Bea was put on our case by Bob Museus. She was charged with finding a farm that would compost wastefor us. She was not able to find this (and neither were we). However, Bea gave us a few options. Shefound an area where the Township previously had a compost center. Perhaps we could put a compostingmachine here. She also got in touch with a pig farmer who might be interested in our waste, with theexception of meat, to feed his pigs. Bea also arranged to take Luke, Drew and Adam Weitzenfeld on afield trip to visit a liquid waste collection facility in a restaurant in Bayside, WI (near Milwaukee).

Museus, BobAdministratorTown of Beloit(608) 364-2980

Bob is an administrator of the Town of Beloit and he said that he was interested in helping us connectwith a farm that could possibly take our waste and compost it for us. John Nicholas contacted him andthen he contacted us. When we called him, he directed us to Bea Lengjak as he had put her on the case.

Nicholas, JohnVice President of the Administration and TreasurerBeloit College(608) 363-2250

We talked to John after we sent an informal note (read: unprofessional) to the Health Department and gotrejected for a variance on the Municipal Code. We thought he could use his leverage as a senioradministrator to get the City to reevaluate our on-site composting proposal. He talked to his connectionsin the City and found out that the best bet would be to look for a way to compost outside the city limits.We probably should have come to him before we went to the Health Department originally. John has beensupportive of composting but has also given us a very pragmatic view of the organizational challenges wewould face. We recommend forming and maintaining a relationship of occasional meetings andconsultations with John or even including him in a working committee.

Phillips, JackieBeloit Health Department(608) [email protected]

Jackie is a nice woman who works at the Health Department. We sent our proposal for the Earth Tub® toher, and she sent it to the City Attorney, who wrote back saying the project was illegal in several respects.Jackie will need to make sure that any on-site components of composting (separation, storage of foodwaste) are done in a sanitary and legal way.


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I. Tuesday, February 17, 2004: Interview with Ken Jones, Director of Physical Plant at Beloit College

A) Landscape waste and disposal, compost demand

Luke: How are leaves and fallen branches from campus grounds disposed of?

Ken: They are taken to the municipal [yard waste] composting facility. (At this facility they are composted inmechanically aerated windrows, using a front end loader.)

Luke: What happens to the grass clippings?

Ken: They are left on the lawns as mulch.

Luke: Would you have any use for finished compost on campus, such as for fill?

Ken: Sure, there are always projects that need fill material or mulch, especially if it’s free.

B) Trash and recycling collection and disposal

Luke: Who hauls our waste?

Ken: A company called Waste Management.

Luke: How often do they pull the dumpsters, and do they charge by weight, volume, per pull?

Ken: They pull on an as-needed basis, usually once every week or two. We call them whenever the compactorgets full. They charge per ton, with quantities over three tons billed at a flat rate. [I got copies of waste disposalbills from the company for a year, from which I will compile some figures. The bills were provided with theactual price structure information censored, so I will have to assess that aspect of waste disposal in anothermanner.]

Luke: How does the waste get collected on campus?

Ken: We used to have the trash, commingled and paper/cardboard dumpsters decentralized, three dumpsters atalmost every building, and they [the hauler at that time] were having to come around and empty them almostevery day. Now we have them centralized behind Commons, there’s a compactor for trash and one for paper andcardboard, and a commingled recycling dumpster. I have one man who collects all the trash and recycling with atractor and trailer, and it takes him all day, every day.The recycling program was started in ’90 or ’91, I can’t remember, by two women students. For a while theywould collect cans and store them, and then take them down to a center in Roscoe every weekend in a collegevan. Then we took it over when students lost interest or were too busy with other things. While they wereorganizing the program, they would go around to all the different floors and talk to the students about separatingcans and bottles, etc.

Luke: Do you foresee any potential problems or concerns for a composting program?

Ken: The main issue would by how to keep it clean, or sanitary or whatever. Composting usually has an odor andcan attract vermin. It couldn’t be too close to the buildings for that reason, because of the smell. I don’t knowwhere you’re going to put it.


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II. Thursday, February 19, 2004: Interview with Bill Behling, Director of Food Service, Beloit College

A) Food use and waste

Luke: How many meals do you serve per day?

Bill: 1500 meals a day would be a good average.

Luke: What sorts of waste do you produce in the kitchen?

Bill: In terms of food waste, there’re the peelings and cores from preparing produce from the salad bar. Thenthere’s the food that’s been served a couple times already, which we throw out. And of course there is a lot ofpackaging. Produce usually comes in waxed cardboard boxes or plastic bags. We also throw out cans, bottles,sacks, cartons, etc.

Luke: How many trashcans are there in the kitchen?

Bill: There are two in the dish room and about four or five others in the kitchen, so six or seven total. [Billreferred to these as 55-gallon trashcans. The cans say 32 gallons on the bottom, and the bags used are 55-gallonsize, so I assume he was referring to the bag capacity. Presumably the cans only hold about 32 gallons,maximum.]

Luke: How often do these get emptied?

Bill: The ones in the dish room are taken out after every meal, so three times a day. The others probably fill uponce or twice a day.

Luke: How is food left on plates disposed of?

Bill: We don’t have a garbage disposal like we used to, so the food that is scraped off goes into the trash, and therest is rinsed off and the solid particles are strained out and thrown out.

Luke: Would Commons staff be able to separate food out and empty compost buckets in addition to trashcans?

Bill: That wouldn’t be a problem, as long as the compost got picked up promptly every day. We can’t have itsitting around attracting vermin or creating odors, it would be unsanitary. The most important thing would be tohave committed student involvement to make sure it got dealt with every day.


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III. Thursday February 26, 2004: Interview with Peter Kraemer, Executive Chef in Commons Dining Hall

A) Food Use and Waste

Luke: How many meals do you serve per day?

Peter: About 1400.

Luke: What sorts of waste do you produce in the kitchen?

Peter: We have fruit and vegetable peelings and cores from salad bar preparation, but we really don’t waste verymuch food. We do throw out a lot of packaging. Most of this is recycled, but three items come in waxedcardboard boxes. That’s the eggplant, chicken for rotisserie, and one other thing. Most of the food waste is reallyfrom student’s plates.

Luke: How often do you prepare vegetables for the salad bar?

Peter: We do fifty pounds of carrots at a time. We do it about every two or three days.

Luke: How many trashcans get filled in the dish room [post consumer waste]?

Peter: About two trashcans each at breakfast and lunch, and four at dinner.

Luke: How often do the other kitchen trashcans get emptied?

Peter: Maybe four or five times a day.

Luke: If I wanted to do a waste audit, when would be the best time to come?

Peter: After a meal, before the trash gets emptied. [The “waste audit” I wanted to do was to get trash from thekitchen and separate out and weigh raw vegetable and fruit residuals, other types of cooked and raw post- andpre-consumer food waste, paper and waxed cardboard, and other non-recyclable materials. This would give anidea of the percentage of the Commons trash that is compostable, both in terms of the biological process and theBeloit municipal code regulations.]

Luke: Would it be difficult for kitchen staff to separate out compostables like vegetable scraps into separatebuckets?

Peter: No.


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Allegheny County Pre-consumer Composting: This is a good report that includes an economic analysis ofcomposting, a pie graph of the waste stream composition (they probably did a waste audit!), and veryuseful details about the specifics of the composting setups at participating businesses and institutions.They talk about collection bin size, storage and transport of waste, and much more. PDF format.http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/deputate/airwaste/wm/RECYCLE/Tech_Rpts/Allegheny2.pdf

Angelic Organics: This is a local CSA farm that also does community education and sustainability projects. Theycould not take our food waste because there’s so much of it.http://www.angelicorganics.com/

Composting Decision Guide: This is an extensive and in-depth guide to institutional composting and all theplanning decisions involved. It’s about 80 pages long. Full title: “Will Composting Work for Us? ADecision Guide for Managers of Businesses, Institutions, Campuses, and Other Facilities.”http://www.cwc.org/organics/organic_htms/cm976rpt.htm

Costs of Recycling and Composting, The: This is a chapter of a book, in PDF format. It gives extensiveinformation on the administrative and process costs of various municipal waste composting systems. Itincludes charts and case studies. The text on composting is probably more useful than all the cost charts.http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/reduce/recy-com/chap08.pdf

Don’t Throw that Food Away: An interesting EPA document with composting case studies and waste diversionpercentage statistics for each method. It has valuable tips for would-be composters and an outline ofvarious costs and benefits to the community and the institution. This document could be very useful indesigning a persuasive proposal to the administration.http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:fmJnCxKmWGcJ:www.p2pays.org/ref/04/03040.pdf++food+waste+compost++project+budget+college+campus+&hl=en

Green Mountain Technologies: They call themselves the “Organic Recycling Company"; they make the EarthTub® in-vessel composting system. They are headquartered in Vermont.http://www.gmt-organic.com/

Local Harvest Farm Guide: This organization keeps track of organic farms, Community Supported Agriculture(CSA), restaurants, farmer’s markets. We used it to track down farms near Beloit that might be interestedin taking our food waste to compost it.http://www.localharvest.org/

Medical University of South Carolina- Office of Recycling and Solid Waste Management: This site hasinformation on different recycling programs run by this Office, including an institutionalvermicomposting (worm composting) setup.http://www.musc.edu/recycle/

Middlebury College “Pathways to a Green Campus”: This report is about greening Middlebury, as the titlesuggests. It tells a bit about how the College became committed to campus sustainability. It is a goodsource for information on how the process of greening the campus can go, like looking at relevant laws,administrative hurdles, etc. There is nothing on composting in particular.http://community.middlebury.edu/~enviroc/wmin.html

New York Prison Composting: This report details the factors that determine the appropriate on-site compostingsystem for managing the large food waste streams at various New York state correctional facilities.http://www.jgpress.com/BCArticles/2000/050030.html


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Ohio Universities Waste Audits: 105 pages of everything you ever wanted to know about sorting trash andanalyzing the data. It includes many graphs, charts and figures breaking down the waste streamcomposition of several universities across the nation. PDF format.http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/recycling/sarcs/CampusWasteAudit.pdf++food+waste+compost++project+budget+college+campus+&hl=en

Santa Cruz Department of Public Works: A document outlining the problems and failures that occurred withtheir use of the Earth Tub®.http://www.dpw.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/downloads/5-operational_issues.pdf

Sustainable Composting at Williams College: This is a very relevant report done by an Environmental Studiesclass. They look at on-site composting versus a farm partnership, considering site characteristics, legalissues.http://www.williams.edu/CES/mattcole/resources/onlinepaperhtml/compost.html

University of California Davis Project Compost: This is a combined history of the University of CaliforniaDavis “Project Compost,” and a guide to setting up a composting system at a college or other institution.It provides basic guidelines and information for decision-making. 10 pages in PDF format.http://www.projectcompost.ucdavis.edu/Compost_Guide.pdf

University of Oregon Campus Recycling Program: This site includes many pages of information on recyclingand all aspects of campus sustainability. There is also a short summary of the U of O’s compostingprogram as it stands now.http://www.uoregon.edu/~recycle/main.htm

University of Oregon Recycling Primer: This is a well-organized report on many aspects of campussustainability that includes a good basic guide to composting, with resources and links.http://www.uoregon.edu/~recycle/Book/index.htm

US Composting Council: Hear it straight from them: “The USCC is a trade and professional organizationpromoting compost. We provide a unified voice for the growing composting industry. The USComposting Council is involved in research, public education, composting and compost standards,expansion of compost markets and the enlistment of public support.” Site includes links to publications,order form and projects of the council.http://www.compostingcouncil.org/index.cfm

Waste Cap Wisconsin: A non-profit organization that encourages responsible waste management and recyclingpractices for businesses. The give good informational “Talk and Tours”.http://www.wastecapwi.org/

Whitman College Green Campus Internship: This is a good story of how the Whitman ConservationCommittee researched and made recommendations for forming a Green Building Advisory Committee. Itis more about organizing and motivating change than specifically about composting.http://www.whitman.edu/environmental_studies/internships/reports/green.htm

Wright Environmental Technologies: This company had a system that composted 600 lbs per day, about wrightfor Beloit (get it? ). Unfortunately, after long delays in communication the owner told us they hadrearranged their inventory and no longer sold this model. The site has some interesting info oninstitutional composting.http://www.wrightenvironmental.com/index_nonflash.html


From: Description. 7 Sept. 2004. Green Mountain Technologies, Inc. 5 May 2005<http://www.gmt-organic.com/EarthTub/et-info.htm>.

The Earth Tub

Commercial Duty Compost System

The Earth Tub is designed specifically for on-site composting of food-wastes.The Earth Tub is a fully enclosed composting vessel featuring power mixing,compost aeration, and biofiltration of all process air. This self-contained unit isideal for composting at schools, universities, restaurants, hospitals andsupermarkets.

The Earth Tub Process

Loading

Organic materials such as food scraps, manure or yard waste are loadedthrough the large hatchway in the cover. Periodically, dry materials such aswood chips, shredded paper or shavings can be added to insure that porosityand moisture levels are ideal for composting.

Mixing

Turn on the auger motor and rotate the cover to shred and mix the new organic material into the active compost.Two revolutions of the rotating cover are required to mix the outside and center of the Earth Tub. The auger willshred and mix a ton or more of compost in 10-15 minutes. During active composting, the Earth Tub should bemixed at least two times per week.


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Aerobics and odor control

Maintaining aerobic conditions and controlling temperature are essential for composting and odor control. Theaeration system draws air through the compost and forces the exhaust air through our biofiltration air purificationsystem to remove odors. Liquids are collected and disposed to a sanitary sewer or holding tank. The overallcleanliness of the in-vessel design allows the Earth Tub to be placed in commercial settings close to where wasteis generated.

Waste reduction

Heat generated in the Earth Tub rapidly breaks down the food scraps. The volume reduction is typically 70% orhigher. After 3--4 weeks of active composting, open the discharge doors and the auger pushes the compost outas it rotates past the discharge door. The compost can be cured for 20-40 days for further stabilization.

Key features

• Easy to operate• Rapid process reduces volume quickly• Heavy-duty plastic construction• Minimal need for bulking agent• Short time required for mixing/loading• Temperature controlled system• Insulated for cold weather operation• Thorough compost mixing• Biofilter odor control system

Specifications

Tub Vessel Height 48"

Overall Height 68"

Overall Diameter 90"

Foam Insulation R-12

Shipping Weight 450 lbs

Volume 3 cubic yards

Mixing Auger 12" Diameter Stainless Steel

Auger Motor 3 Ph 2.5 hp 230/460V

Aeration Blower 80 CFM 100 watt

Power Usage ~1080 KWH per year

Liquid Drain 1” drain on biofilter

Processing Capacity 40-200 ppd*

* Pounds per day of biomass per Earth Tub.


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Waste audit supplies

Recycling bins (7 or 8)Plastic bagsSigns (Meat, Non-meat food, Napkins)Bathroom scaleRubber glovesLaminated flyers to encourage people to separate the food on their traysSign for normal trashcan to direct people to the table where the bins are set upNotebook to record weights of the various categories of waste. Pen to record waste.

The Morning Hour Set-Up (Breakfast only)

1. Get four or five blue recycling bins (one or two spares to use while you measure waste in the others).2. Get out a table and set up the bins in this order, MEAT, NAPKINS, & NON-MEAT.3. Put new plastic bags in the bins.4. Put the flyers out on the tables.5. Put up the sign that says COMPOST on a trash can in the kitchen & tell the food workers what youare doing. Pick a can that is visible to the food workers.6. Put a sign on the normal trashcan window and move the can out of sight.7. Set out laminated flyers on each table to inform the eaters

During Meal Instructions (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)

1. Make sure that people separate their trash correctly.Anything with meat can go in the MEAT bin. Ex: bread on a bologna sandwich is okayTeabags can go in the NON-MEATWrappers and other trash can go in the small bucket near the table.Use your own discretion, no worries

2. Weigh the bags when they get full*Remember to subtract the weight of the binWe write the weight 32 (28), 1st number is total weight and the 2nd is minus the bin

3. Have an extra bin ready to replace the one being weighed, so there is no hold up on the line.4. Make sure that you get all of the metal containers that carry the hot food…

The people that work at Commons will be carrying these, they may be hot so be careful and know that they can melt the plastic bags.

End of Meal (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)

1. Weigh bins, replace plastic bags, clean up the area2. If it is Dinner clean up and put everything away.


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Picture of the set-up used in Commons Dinning Hall.


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Breakfast Lunch Dinner Total Non-Meat & Napkins

Friday # Served 232 338 764 1334Oct 29 Meat 5.7 24.5 48 78.2

Napkins 5 7 8.5 20.5Non meat 5.5 79 118.5 203 223.5

Kitchen 0 0 0 0Total 16.2 110.5 175 301.7

Weds # Served 211 372 697 1280Nov 3 Meat 11 21 68 100

Napkins 6 2 29 37Non meat 56 47.5 197 300.5 337.5

Kitchen 0 0 0 0Total 73 70.5 294 437.5

Monday # Served 242 394 704 1340Nov 8 Meat 8 16 28 52

Napkins 3.25 3 5.5 11.75Non meat 80.5 100 150 330.5 342.25

Kitchen 0 0 0 0Total 91.75 119 183.5 394.25

Tuesday # Served 234 368 699 1301Nov 16 Meat 7 17 56 80

Napkins 1 3.5 10 14.5Non meat 35 60 126.5 221.5 236

Kitchen 0 0 0 0Total 43 80.5 192.5 316

Saturday # Served 67 645 549 1261Nov 20 Meat 0 27 37 64

Napkins 0 8 5 13Non meat 15 120.5 61.5 197 210

Kitchen 0 4 0 4Total 15 159.5 103.5 278

Thurs # Served 209 372 648 1229Dec 2 Meat 3.5 34 52.5 90

Napkins 2 8 3.5 13.5Non meat 43 80 94 217 230.5

Kitchen 0 0 0 0Total 48.5 122 150 320.5

Sunday # Served 43 649 NA 692Dec 5 Meat 0 21 NA 21

Napkins 0.25 14 NA 14.25Non meat 17 112.5 NA 129.5 143.75

Kitchen 0 18 NA 18Total 17.25 165.5 NA 182.75

Averages Breakfast Lunch Dinner Total Non-Meat & Napkins

# Served 177 448 677 1205Meat 5 23 48 69

Napkins 3 7 10 18Non meat 36 86 125 228 246

Kitchen 0 3 0 3Total 44 118 183 319


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Meals Served in Commons:Data is not from seven consecutive days in a week. Different days of the week were chosen over

the course of the fall semester.

Meat (Black), Non-meat (Dark Grey), Napkins (Light Grey)

Waste Stream Composition:This is the amount of food waste we measured, averaged over all the meals we measured (see “Figure 1”above). We had three categories: Meat, Non-meat, and Napkins; non-meat and napkins are the mosteasily compostable.

Appendix 8: Cost Savings Summary

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Bill Behling’s Estimation of the Amount of Meals served per year in Commons

Academic Year (32 weeks):

1100 Breakfasts per week 35200 Breakfasts per year2925 Lunches per week 95200 Lunches per year5000 Dinners per week 162000 Dinners per year

Non-Academic year: 28000 meals per year (a minimum)

Total:320400 total meals served per year (meal = one person served)

Calculation of Money Saved Per Year

Starting Figures:

320400 meals served at Commons per year (Bill Behling)0.209 lbs of Napkins and Non-Meat waster per person per meal (Waste Audits)$30.80 price per ton to dump waste (Physical Plant)1600 lbs amount of waste per fill of Composter (Earth Tub®)1 cubic yard amount of compost created per fill of Composter (Earth Tub® user)$16.00 price per cubic yard of Black dirt used (they use 100 cubic yards per year) (Physical Plant)

Calculations:

Pounds of waste diverted:

320400 Meals per year x 0.209 lbs of waste = 66963.6 lbs of waste diverted/year person

Money Saved by Commons:

66963.6 lbs of waste diverted x _1 ton__ x _$30.80_ = $1031 saved in dumping costs/year year 2000 lbs tonMoney Saved By Physical Plant:

66963.6 lbs of waste x __1 fill___ x 1 cubic yard = 41.85 cubic yards of dirt/year year 1600 lbs 1 fill

41.85 cubic yards of dirt x $16.00___ = $670 saved in dirt/year year cubic yard

Final Figures:66963.6 lbs of waste diverted/year41.85 cubic yards of dirt/year

$1031 saved by Commons in dumping costs/year$670 saved by Physical Plant in dirt/year

$1700 saved by Beloit College per year

Appendix 9: Composting Brochure

B E L O I T C O L L E G E C O M P O S T I N G P R O J E C T

BENEFITSDecrease the environmental impact of the collegeReduce land-filled waste by 66,964 lbs per yearIncrease the attractiveness of the campus to prospective studentsSave Beloit College $1,700 in annual costs

GOALSInstallation of two Earth Tub® composting units in the back of Commons cafeteriaRedesign of tray disposal system to accommodate waste separation and improve ease of useEducational campaign for the campus on the benefits of compost and waste reductionCreation of a work study internship to overlook the system

EDUCATIONThe Biology Department can use the composting systems as a study toolA work study internship will be created to maintain, monitor, record and studyAn educational campaign to inform students about use of composting system will be undertaken

COST SAVINGSDecrease amount of waste that is dumped annually and save $1031 per yearDecrease amount of dirt purchased by Physical Plant by 41.85 cu yds and save $670 annually

WHERE THE WASTE COMES FROMWaste is separated by students at the cafeteria into compostable and non-compostable wasteCompost is taken out from Commons by Food Service StaffThis will decrease the amount of waste land filled by 66,964 lbs per year

WHERE THE FINISHED PRODUCT GOESThe compost will be used on campus by Physical Plant as fill dirt

WHAT HAS BEEN DONE SO FARResearch on different systems of composting, including contact with other collegesInterviews and conversations with Physical Plant and Food ServiceEight day-long waste audits conducted to determine waste amounts and ratios

EARTHTUB® SPECIFICSFully contained composting systemOdorless, closed to animals, sanitary, eye-friendly and insulated to work in winterUses an electric auger to mix and aerate compostThermophilic composting method kills pathogens and weed seeds

For More Information Contact:

Luke Cate Drew Pitney [email protected] [email protected](608) 363-4140 (608) 363-4687

Documents

Beloit Composting 1