help with compost contamination
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We recently started collecting compostable materials in our dining hall, residence halls, and employee break areas. However, we're not a zero waste campus and are experiencing major contamination in our compost. (Pepsi cups, yogurt cups, coffee cup lids, plastic wrap...)
In our cafeteria, the compost containers are bright green. They are clearly marked in our residence halls and office areas.
How have you reduced contamination and/or informed users how to sort better?
I think it would help if you can centralize your waste bins. If they are all in one area it gives people less of an option to contaminate the food. I also suggest what Kelly has said above perhaps call them "Recycling Rangers" and have them man the bins at high traffic hours.
Cheers,
Erin
SDSU
Contamination is the number one challenge with running a front of the house compost collection model. The more complete your compostables service ware line is, the less contamination you have. Even though we have a complete compostables line, contamination can still be an issue.
"Striving for a zero waste food service"
Micheal
University of Washington
Hi Lindsey,
In addition to my 20+ years of setting up campus recycling, composting, and related sustainability programs, I also write a "how to" blog for Max-R sustainable site furnishings.
I recently wrote a blog about the challenges of composting post-consumer food waste that you might find helpful.
http://blog.max-r.net/2011/08/23/avoiding-the-compost-apocalypse/
I also have a blog about bin designs and how they relate to better results that might be helpful. The bin design post was specifically written about recycling, but the concepts are the same whether collecting food or any other material.
http://blog.max-r.net/2011/07/12/better-aesthetics-better-results/
Hope this helps.
-Roger Guzowski
Hi Lindsey,
you can also get some simple solutions from this article that was featured:
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Here at the University of Oregon we have volunteers monitor the public compost sites once or twice a week during lunch hours. Having the volunteer also helps educate the public of what is and is not compostable. Another factor to this is that the public becomes more familiar and comfortable using the sites. I was finding more contamination at the residence halls, so posters were made of actual compost samples pasted onto the board. This helped more so than the sings, which have pictuers and text of what is compostable. On the sign is text of what is not acceptable, but we just name the contaminants that we find most often, such as plastic, meat or dairy.
We have also done tabling during lunch hours. At tabling we set up posters, samples of compostables and non-compostables, we made up a quiz and if they answer so many correctly they get a reusable mug or water bottle, we have done kitchen counter compost bucket giveaways and last night we showed a free movie called DIRT! and before the movie we gave away organic fruit (donated by Organically Grown) and kithcen counter compost buckets. About 150 people showed up.
Workshops on how to make your worm bin or compost pile engages the public. The media was also helpful such as articles in the campus newspaper and radio interviews. Table tents also help, you can put information on there about compostables and where sites are on campus.
Hope this helps, but if you need any more information please feel free to contact me,
Kelly
University of Oregon
kzillman@uoregon.edu