Students participate in composting programs

BY MARCY MIRANDA, coloradoan.com, Nov. 16, 2009

Students at Lesher IB World Middle School are learning a lesson in waste and recycling: If it was ever alive, it's compostable.

Lesher is one of two Poudre School District schools participating in composting pilot programs, said John Holcombe, the district's environmental and safety coordinator.

Kinard Core Knowledge Middle School has also been trying to reduce its impact on landfills by sorting its waste into compostable material.

"Composting is more sustainable," Holcombe said.

Lesher began its program in September and Kinard in October. Both average between 60 and 90 pounds of compost per day, Holcombe said.

Many everyday items that are not recyclable are compostable, said Annie Carey, marketing director for Clean Air Compost, which is working with Lesher.

Students have been learning items such as egg shells, vegetable peelings, paper towels and coffee grinds can be broken down instead of dumped in a landfill, she said.

Larger composting facilities that use heat to break down materials are also able to break down items not typically recommended for home composting, such as toilet paper rolls, corn-based containers, cups, disposable silverware and meat bones, Carey said.

Her company is also working with several restaurants in town, collecting their compost in an attempt to reduce waste.

"If you think of the volume of food waste, leftovers, cardboard boxes, they can significantly reduce their trash volumes and reduce their trash bill, their cost of compost," she said.

Holcombe was approached by Clean Air Compost, which asked about the possibility of setting up a composting program with the school district. Before taking it districtwide, Holcombe randomly chose Lesher as a pilot site. After getting approval from the principal, the cafeteria added a third waste bin to collect compost.

Students separate their lunch waste into recycling, composting and trash. The compost bin is equipped with a rack and a vent to separate and air out the water from the material, Carey said.

Each day, a different student serves as compost monitor, said Wiley Cate, a counselor at Lesher. Monitors help keep trash, recyclable and compostable material separate and educate their fellow classmates about composting.

"We've been having kids learn about composting and how it really lessens the amount of trash we put into the dump," Cate said. "I know our custodian said it's been cut significantly."

Carey said 18,000 pounds of compost have been picked up from Lesher since September.

At Kinard, the school's environmental group has a worm compost to help reduce the amount of garbage they created, Holcombe said. The success of the worm composting program was so great, the group realized it had more compost than it could feed the worms.

The school approached Holcombe to see if they could also participate in a composting program.

"We are trying all kinds of different things to try and divert the food from landfills," he said.

Holcombe hopes to add a third school to the composting program in January.

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