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The composting project at HWSWhat is compost? Composting is a method for treating organic waste in which the material is broken down by microorganisms to a point where it can be stored, handled, and applied as a fertilizer or soil amendment. Composting is an simple way of reducing household, garden, and yard wastes. It can be done inexpensively by every household and produces a product that can benefit the environment as a natural fertilizer for gardening and farming. Why compost? About one third of the space in landfills is taken up with organic waste from yards and kitchens, just the type of material that can be used in compost. Garbage hauling fees can be significantly reduced by composting this type of waste. With a small investment in time, waste deposited in our overused landfills can be reduced, while at the same time a product is produced that can be used to enrich the soil in garden or planters. Why use compost? Compost is one of nature's best mulches and soil amendments. Using compost improves soil structure, texture, and aeration and increases the soil's water-holding capacity. Adding compost improves soil fertility and stimulates healthy root development in plants. Nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus will be produced naturally during the composting process, so few artificial fertilizers will need to be added. How does the process work? In every forest, grassland and jungle, plants die, fall to the ground, and decay. They are then slowly dismantled by the small organisms living in the soil. Composting recreates the ideal conditions for the decay processes that occur in nature, and is the end product of a complex ecosystem involving hundreds of different organisms, including bacteria, fungi, worms, and insects. The organisms in compost break down organic material through aerobic respiration, and require oxygen introduced through mixing or aeration of a compost pile. The microorganisms also require water to live and multiply. The rule of thumb is to keep the pile as moist as a wrung-out sponge. Temperatures within compost piles can rise as high as 160° F due to microbial activity. Temperatures of 130°-150° are ideal, as they speed along the composting process, and will kill dangerous microbes and weed seeds. Materials required for composting
There are two major types of materials that you can compost. The first are referred to as “ greens ,” and are high in nitrogen content. Greens include food and fruit wastes, grass clippings, and animal manure. Greens provide nitrogen, a building block for protein production by decomposing microorganisms. The second group of composting components is called “ browns ” which are high in carbon content. Browns include wood chips, paper products leaves, and straw. Browns provide a carbohydrate food source for decomposing microorganisms. The proper mix of materials is key to a well run compost pile. A good Carbon to Nitrogen ratio to shoot for is 30:1. A higher ratio (and thus more carbon) will retard the composting process by starving the microorganisms of nitrogen to produce proteins, and a smaller ratio (and thus more nitrogen) will make the pile smelly and starve the microorganisms of their carbohydrate food. How to compost
Start composting by collecting organic materials in a freestanding pile. Place the pile over soil rather than pavement, to take advantage of the earthworms, beneficial microbes, and other decomposers. A 3-sided enclosure made of fencing, wire, or concrete blocks will keep the pile neater and less unsightly. In the fall, collect and shred fallen leaves. Use these all year long as a carbon source. Put kitchen scraps in the compost pile year round, mixing in browns periodically to balance the Carbon/Nitrogen ratio. Passive composting involves the least amount of time and energy. It might take a long time (a year or two), but eventually organic materials in any type of a pile will break down into finished compost. The pile will shrink quickly as the materials compress and decompose. After the first few years, most simple piles produce a few cubic feet of finished compost yearly. Managed composting involves active participation. Shredding of leaves, wood chips, and paperwill speed the composting process. Manual turning and periodic aeration will increase the amount of oxygen in the pile, and speed the process. Monitoring correct temperature and moisture in the pile is also important, as the ideal conditions described above speed the process. If you use all the techniques and employ a large amount to muscle, you can get finished compost in 3-4 weeks. Composting at HWS In the fall semester of 2003, Environmental Studies students at Hobart and William Smith Colleges investigated the feasibility or creating a composting facility on the HWS campus. The students estimated that the Colleges’ dining halls produced about one ton of food waste per week, and designed a facility that would be capable of processing 1/10 of that volume. The students, with the help of HWS Dining Services, Housekeeping, the Buildings and Grounds department, and a generous price break on lumber and supplies from 84 Lumber in Geneva , constructed the composting facility, and began to divert HWS food waste in to the composting process.
In the fall semester of 2004, a new group of students took over the composting project. After turning and condensing the compost generated during the previous academic year, they began to compost more food from HWS dining halls, refining the process as they went. This group focused some of their energy on educating the HWS campus and community about composting, and brought composting to some of the smaller theme houses on campus. Future plans include a study to design the infrastructure and facility needed to compost all food waste on the HWS campus. Composting at the Finger Lakes Institute:
As part of the campus composting program, the Finger Lakes Institute has a small compost bin to process food scraps generated on site and to educate the public about the composting process. The unit, called the “Earth Machine” was manufactured by Norsemen plastics of recycled, UV resistant plastic. The unit can contain 80 gallons of compostable material, and takes 2-3 months to produce usable compost. This unit can be purchased from local Cornell Cooperative Extension offices for about 40 dollars.
Sources of information on composting: www.howstuffworks.com: “How composting works” General composting information http://www.compostinfo.com/Default.htm “ Florida ’s Online composting Center” excellent online tutorial about backyard composting http://compost.css.cornell.edu/Composting_homepage.html “Cornell composting,” Cornell University Waste Management Institute. General and technical information about home and commercial scale composting http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1189.html Ohio State University Extension Fact Sheet, Horticulture and Crop Science, 2021 Coffey Rd. , Columbus , Ohio 43210-1086 “Composting at Home” | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
The composting facility (at right) is comprised of four, interconnected, 5’x5’x5’ wooden bins, which are covered and aerated using perforated plastic tubes throughout the box. Food waste and wood chips are added in equal weights and mixed thoroughly, creating a uniform composting media. This type of composting process is called a static aerated pile, and requires no mixing to work properly. Students added new material daily, and generated a large compost pile over the course of the semester. A new pile was created for food waste generated during the Spring Semester of 2004. 