An academic affair

In recent years, colleges and universities have served as hotbeds for advancements in the collection and processing of different waste streams. In New Jersey, specifically, Princeton University, Rutgers University and Bergan Community College have leveraged their research capabilities to find sustainable solutions for food waste.

A key component that ties these institutions together is the New Jersey Composting Council (NJCC), a chapter of the US Composting Council (USCC), Raleigh, North Carolina.

To help advance compost manufacturing, compost use and organics recycling in the state, the organization has worked with colleges and universities to implement programs and technologies dedicated to diverting food waste from landfills.

“Universities are these beautiful laboratories where they are willing to perform these trial-and-error tests about food waste recycling,” says Jairo Gonzalez, NJCC president.

NJCC helps universities obtain New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) grants and acts as a consultant for campuses as they establish program details, technology and applications for finished compost.

“It’s … a great place to work because universities do good for society,” Gonzalez says, adding that universities are excellent environments to demonstrate organics recycling practices because of their size and the large volume of food waste produced.

“We hope that data is used by not only universities but other large generators that could have similar campuses, like large companies, prisons, … high schools and private corporations that have cafeterias where they have a lot of movement of food and recycling,” he says.

Taking the lead

As NJCC begins its work with a university launching or expanding composting efforts, the first step is to perform a waste audit to identify the flow of organics, including sources and collection points.

“The size of the bins really varies by location and the size of the university,” Gonzalez says. “But usually, you’re using your 10-gallon, your 15-gallon and your 8-gallon [bins].”

Including clear signage and education has been an important factor, he adds. NJCC often creates graphics to place above or near organics bins, which has helped campus composting succeed.

“[We use] specifically designed stations with different campaigns to measure how [institutions] can keep that audience educated and captive as to deposit the right waste in the right bins,” he says.

NJCC also recruits volunteers, or ambassadors, to teach students about composting and food waste during the first few days of a program’s launch. They stand near disposal stations and encourage students to place their waste in the proper bins.

“We use volunteers from the student body who want to participate and help us guide [the program], and that has helped us versus just starting from zero with a nice design, nice visual and nice bucket,” Gonzalez explains. “But not having that person there for the first one or two days, sometimes we don’t get the capture volume that we have had when there is a coordinator or ambassador [there].”

These decisions are part of what Gonzalez calls the “precomposting” activities at the start of the grant process.

“Before we even start composting, there’s a campaign predetermined, there’s a whole educational program being established, and all the key points after the audit is completed. So, that helps once we launch the first day of capturing organics [because] everything is in place,” he says.

Creating compost

The second step in NJCC’s process is recommending technologies for a university to compost its own food waste. Once a waste audit is completed, Gonzalez says the organization will help choose a composting site and provide a university with a list of solutions providers, with USCC member companies taking priority.

“We give them a whole suite of members across the nation, which includes Canada, and they narrow it down with us as to which one fits the financial model of the grant, and who is suited for that particular space and feedstock,” he says.

Rutgers University chose an automated Earth Flow In-Vessel composting system from Bainbridge Island, Washington-based Green Mountain Technologies (GMT), which will be located at the university’s EcoComplex, an alternative energy innovation center. In a news release announcing Rutgers’ use of the system, GMT says the Earth Flow will process up to 30,000 pounds of campus materials per month, including food and animal waste.

Rutgers will use the finished compost in its landscapes, gardens and greenhouses.

According to GMT, the Earth Flow composting system automatically mixes, grinds and aerates compostable materials in an enclosed vessel that is similar to a shipping container. The aeration system vents exhaust through a biofilter to eliminate odors while the system is operating.

With the system, compostable material is loaded into one end of the container, while finished compost is ejected out the other end in a controlled process.

“We’ve been exploring potential composting plans for the Cook Campus for many years,” Serpil Guran, director of the EcoComplex and project leader at Rutgers, says in the news release. “Our new Earth Flow In-Vessel composting system from Green Mountain Technologies will help us divert our cafeteria and animal waste from landfills, which is very important for Rutgers’ sustainability and climate change mitigation strategies.”

As one of the largest university generators of organics in the state, Gonzalez says Rutgers serves as a great case study for NJCC to observe as it continues advancing other university composting programs.

“The need for soil rehabilitation and compost is so big, and the cost is so low, that most of our projects tend to head the way of traditional aerobic composting technologies, like ASP [aerated static piles], in-vessel ASP, covered ASP or, even in some cases, open windrow ASP.” – NJCC President Jairo Gonzalez

Expanding efforts

Princeton University recently expanded its existing composting efforts with a grant from the state DEP to study the collection and recycling of compostable bioplastics. With grant funding, students in the Sustainable Composting Research at Princeton (SCRAP) Lab will assess how well several types of compostable plastic products break down in the university’s aerobic, in-vessel composting system, known as SCRAPPY.

As the university learns how it can divert more food waste toward composting, it expects to expand its current composting capacity. Gonzalez says he foresees this trend continuing at other universities.

“The need for soil rehabilitation and compost is so big, and the cost is so low, that most of our projects tend to head the way of traditional aerobic composting technologies, like ASP [aerated static piles], in-vessel ASP, covered ASP or, even in some cases, open windrow ASP,” he says. “It helps the process a lot faster, and, therefore, when you have [limited] space, you can take volumes and, instead of doing your traditional 90 days, you can bring it down to 45-60 days of processing.”

The author is associate editor of Waste Today and can be reached at hrischar@gie.net.