As the University of Idaho continues to pursue more sustainable practices on campus, an Earth Flow composting system will be available to the dining halls starting this fall. Food waste will be turned into a nutrient-rich soil amendment that can be repurposed for campus landscaping projects, according to the university.
Sarah Dawson, the Director of Sustainability, provided more detailed information.
The machine itself is not in the dining hall – it is a 40-foot shipping container located outside of the facilities building on campus.
Dawson commented on the actual composting process, saying “Both pre- and post-consumer food waste is collected by Dining Services staff at the dining hall. They put the food waste in toters that are specific to that purpose. The toters are picked up by the RSSW team and taken to the composter where they are lifted by a tote-tipper and emptied into one end of the composter.”
An equivalent amount of wood chips are then added to the food waste mix as a bulking agent. These chips are sourced from campus trees that required removal and local arborists.
Over the course of several weeks, the compost is mixed, and usable material comes out the other side of the machine. This compost is then to be used across campus for different landscaping projects. Any leftover compost will be sold to members of the community.
This composting machine was funded by a grant given by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. The total grant amount awarded was $90,300 and the entirety of that money has been spent on this project.
UI aims to reduce the amount of waste sent to the landfill by 60% with the use of this system. This will also reduce costs and greenhouse gas emissions associated with waste disposal.
For those looking to contribute to the composting system, the machine can accept all food waste except for pure liquid, bones larger than two inches in diameter, bioplastics, woody waste, green waste and paper products.
The Earth Flow composting system will accelerate UI toward achieving their carbon neutrality goal, according to the university.
Rebekah Weaver can be reached at [email protected].