Composting at Crozet Elementary
Posted by Paige
We are now in Week 2 of the Composting Project at Crozet Elementary. I stopped by today to check out the progress and make sure everything was set for the summer break where we will hopefully have a batch of compost complete to come back to!
To start the project, Crozet Elementary purchased three Urban Compost Tumbers. I was notified today that a parent is donating a fourth tumbler to add into the mix!
So far the project has been in trial. We started two weeks ago, knowing there were only two weeks of school remaining and we wanted to work any kinks out over the summer. The project currently works by diverting the kids cafeteria and snack food waste from the land fill by have the kids put food waste in a separate container rather than the trash container. Fifth grade students then carry the compost containers to the tumbler which sits about 10 yards outside the lunchroom. They empty the compost and tumble the composter everyday.
Maggie Morris, a kindergarten teacher at Crozet Elementary, has been my school counterpart and the cheerleader for the project at the school. I noticed immediately this morning that their compost needed a little bit of help. It is food dominant, which we assumed it would be. I was prepared and had brought a large container of leaves from my yard and added that into the tumbler. What I didn’t expect was the high acidity level. The kids have been eating a lot of fruit! Since there isn’t a large variety of "greens," the mixture was a little sour, which I could smell right off the bat. I had Maggie add a box of Baking Soda and we mixed that and the leaves into the tumbler. Right away the odor subsided.
Being only week two I am honestly amazed at the speed of the breakdown in the tumbler. It has great sun exposure, which is really boosting the composting process. The mixture was fairly indistinguishable on the inside. The food had broken down enough, that I couldn’t tell what it was to start with! They had even added in two days worth of "brown bags" a special lunch day, and hadn’t shredded the bags. The bags were completely gone. With extra leaves, which we are working to secure regularly, their compost project could turn over complete compost every 1.5 to 2 months–my best guess. Pretty exciting. Stay tuned for more updates!
That is awesome! We need more schools/administrators/teachers like this.
This is a cool project Paige! Maybe my school could do something like this…