Evergreen Composts!
...it's a down to Earth solution!
What is compost?
Simply put, compost is decomposed organic material such as leaves, grasses, branches, fruits, vegetables, meat, and other carbon-based matter. This process happens naturally all the time and everywhere. However, humans accelerate the process by gathering this organic matter in piles or bins. Then, with a little TLC, aeration, and turning, humans create their own compost.
Why compost?
Composting creates a nutrient-rich, high quality product that can be used to grow other living things. Furthermore, compostable material such as food scraps and yard waste unnecessarily make up a large portion of our landfill waste. When we compost, we reduce the need to build more landfills, we save money, and we protect our environment.
Does Evergreen compost?
Absolutely! Evergreen has two composting programs: 1) Organic Farm Compost and 2) Silver Springs Compost.
Why two programs?
We prefer to compost on-campus by sending our organic waste to the Organic Farm. However, we currently produce more compost than our Organic Farm can handle. Plus, we are not currently able to compost napkins, compostable plates, spudware, cardboard, and other items that a commercial facility can handle. For these reasons, we send some of our compost to Silver Springs Organics – a commercial compost facility located in Rainer, Washington. Both of these programs are further explained below.
Organic Farm Compost
The Organic Farm Compost Program is available in our residential areas with collection sites located:
- near MOD 13,
- near R Building in the soup loop,
- outside of G and
- in the A,B,C,D Courtyard near the dumpsters.
Acceptable Items:
- Food scraps
- Meat
- Chicken / fish bones
- Orange peels
- Dairy products
- Coffee grounds
- Tea Bags
Non-Acceptable Items:
- Oyster shells
- Large bones
- Twisty-ties
- Rubber bands
- Fruit stickers
- Pet waste / cat litter
- Trash (plastic, metal)
Composting in the Residential Areas – A Brief History
Residential and Dining Services (RAD), Facilities, and the Organic Farm have a longstanding relationship of collaboration on campus compost. For about a decade the Organic Farm has been collecting compost from the residential areas of campus and turning trash into soil at their small-scale student run compost facility. The program was expanded in 2008 by efforts from the sustainability team at Evergreen. Halli Winstead and Katie Taylor raised money to purchase counter top buckets and created handouts to encourage incoming residents to compost in their apartments and rooms. Since then the program has been gaining speed and is continuing to expand.
How to get started:
- Get yourself a food scrap collection container that can seal tightly with a lid.
- Identify your nearest compost collection site
- Put all of your food scraps into the bin, empty when necessary or at least once per week
Want to get involved?
Contact Natalie Pyrooz (360) 867-6116.
Silver Springs Compost
The Silver Springs Compost Program is available in our Campus Activities Building (CAB) outside of the Market area and in the Greenery and also in the SEM II Café and at the Flaming Eggplant. Look for the composting signs and green bins on the second floor of the CAB (Red Square level).
Read about our visit to Silver Springs in 2008. (PDF)
Acceptable Items:
- All Food Scraps: fruits, vegetables, meat, bones, grains, leftovers, pre- and post-consumer food waste.
- Compostable Products available in Dining Services and the Flaming Eggplant: plates, bowls, Greenware cups and lids, soup bowls (no lids), corn plastic forks, knives and spoons, corn plastic clamshell (holds fruit salad), Greenery To-Go containers, coffee cups and sleeves (no lids), Flaming Eggplant to-go containers, paper cups, chopsticks corn plastic straws (Flaming Eggplant only), napkins, clean or food soiled
Non Acceptable Item:
- Any plastic or metal including straws, twisty-ties, fruit stickers, lids (coffee and soup), and rubber bands.
Greener Spaces Office Composting Program:
The Greener Spaces Office Composting Program was first piloted in the President’s Office and in the Dean's Office during Fall Quarter 2008, thanks to Sustainability Champion Emmie Forman!
With a successful first try underway, the Office of Sustainability decided to make compost available to all interested staff and faculty due to popular demand and Evergreen's Goal of Zero Waste by 2020!
Starting this January, the Office of Sustainability is working to expand compost to include additional faculty and staff areas.
Items collected in offices and staff areas will be composted through the Silver Springs Compost Program.
Where to take your bin: All office compost can be carried by hand to the CAB Market Dining Area located on the second floor (Red Square level) into one of the three green bins at the Recycling Station. It is advisable to empty your bucket on a weekly basis and rinse it out afterwards!
We invite you to participate! It’s easy and it’s the right thing to do.
To learn more and to get involved contact:
Lindsay Raab, Waste Management Coordinator, or The Office of Sustainability.
Troubleshooting:
Smell - if you let your compost sit for too long (more than a week) the odor can become quite powerful The best solution is to empty your bucket regularly (once or twice per week) and keep the liquid content to a minimum!
Fruit Flies - Make sure to keep the lid on your bin closed tightly to reduce the potential of these little buggers finding the jackpot!; If, however, they do manage to populate your area you can make a simple fruit fly trap to deter them.
Mucky Bucket - this symptom may be a result of a few different elements, too much liquid or infrequent emptying. When this happens simply empty your bucket and wash with soap and water. A simple solution is to gather funds from your area to purchase bio-bags – available at Olympia Supply - they make three gallon ones that fit nicely into most counter-top containers.