Compost Proposal

An Experiment by the ECOS Club

Proposed Goal:

Our goal is for Sierra College to asses the issue of how much food waste it creates and if the amount of wasted food is a viable quantity for on-site composting.

Proposed Solution:

With the purchase of one to several (depending on the amount of wasted food produced by Sierra College) Earth Tub composting machines, the wasted food would be dumped into these tubs for composting. In four to six days, the food dumped into the composts would be dry due to the natural aeration system of the composting process. The dried compost would be added to the Sierra College yard waste container and further processed at the Municipal Recovery Facility (MRF) near Lincoln.

Sierra College would have less waste to dispose of into the landfill and would be one step further toward becoming an environmentally aware and sustainable college.

Proposed Assessment:

Before discussion of implementing a composting program on the Sierra College campus in Rocklin can go any further, data must be collected on how much food waste is actually produced by Sierra College and whether its faculty and students would participate in disposing of their food waste properly. If not enough food waste is disposed of properly, it would be financially detrimental to Sierra College to purchase, implement and maintain a composting system.

October 24th through October 31st

From October 24th through October 31st, ECOS and other faculty members will be conducting an experiment to collect this data. Trash cans labeled specifically for "food waste only" will be placed not only in the cafeteria but also in the kitchen area for the kitchen staff to utilize as well. A special 5 yard dumpster will be delivered by APD to be used only for all the food waste trash bags from the kitchen and the cafeteria for one week. On November 1 st, the dumpster will be professionally weighed by APD and the net weight of the food wastes will be reported to Sierra College.

With that information collected, we will be able to continue our research on the value of having an earth-friendly, cost-effective composting system on the Sierra College Rocklin campus.