Katie O’Reilly ’14: The Episcopal Sustainability Committee helped to install a food composter in the cafeteria in December 2012 not only to recycle excess food material but also to maximize the school’s ability to become completely sustainable in terms of solid waste.
Despite the hundreds of people who dine in the cafeteria on a daily basis, much of the prepared food is left unused. This leftover food is composed through a shoot from the kitchen and then used to help fertilize parts of the campus, ultimately reducing the solid waste of the Episcopal community.
The composter, called the “Earth Tub” comes from a company called Green Mountain Technologies. The composter is currently behind the cafeteria to the left of the loading dock enclosed by a wooden fence.
Chair of the Upper School Science Department and a member of the Sustainability Committee Leslie Trimble noted, “The composter was actually a student proposal from the Global Youth Leadership Institution, and the students proposed the idea to the Board. Mark Nataro managed to a get a grant for us, and I believe we used the grant money to purchase the composter.”
Member of the upper school English department and a member of the Sustainability Committee Samuel Willis noted, “Mr. Familetti, who is in charge of all dinning services is also involved with this because he has gotten his staff on board with composting all the excess food.”
Head of the Episcopal Dining Services John Familetti stated, “We keep track every month of how many five-gallon tubs we use to put in the composter.” He continued, “We tend to save the trimmings from the vegetables we use and dump them into the composter.”
For now, this composter system solely focuses on recycling the food left over from the kitchen preparations. Eventually however, the school could potentially compost all wasted food, such as the uneaten food off of plates. Willis mentioned, “It’s not like we are at the point where we are going through the trash, but we might get there.” On top of that Trimble noted, “We would definitely need student involvement to figure out a plan to make such a task actually work in the future, but that would be our next step.”
“Student and faculty waste would include unwanted items such as proteins, fats, and dairy, and would have to be divided prior to inclusion. If there was an effective, efficient method to ensure proper separation, perhaps we could expand the sources of compostable materials,” remarked Assistant Grounds Superintendent and Horticulturist Joe Bayer.
“This is a good step,” said Willis, “and ideally we could use that compost and use it around the campus so we could help to fertilize some of the plants and things like that.”
Trimble added, “The compost we can use in the garden in the Lower School, and I believe that the fourth graders this year are planting vegetables there which we hope to serve in the cafeteria. It is sort of going full circle.”
In order for waste to become compost, microbes must break it down. The microbes require certain temperatures, moisture levels and a proper carbon to nitrogen ratio. These variables are controlled by addition of the bulking material. Fresh fruit and vegetable scraps contain high levels of moisture and nitrogen. The carbon-based bulking materials, which can include leaves, wood chips, saw dust, etc. should be dry when added. The operator must monitor the amounts of kitchen waste, which is added by the cafeteria staff, and add the correct amount of bulking material. The composting tub has an auger which mixes the materials together. At least three days a week, it is activated to turn the compost.
“We have been talking about in the Sustainability Committee that we would like to be certified, sustainable,” stated Trimble. “The way that works is by focusing on one certain area at a time. We think the composter could get us certified in the area of sustainable solid waste.”
Willis commented, “Eventually I think that we can get to having all recycled, recyclable, biodegradable food containers, and silverware. We will reduce our waste and ideally we will get to the point where we are at zero.”
Many students and faculty use the to-go containers from the cafeteria that are certainly not recyclable, but Trimble noted, “We are thinking of ways to make the to-go containers compostable along with plastic silverware.”
There are other parts of campus that are also becoming more sustainable. In fact, Trimble stated, “Already a lot of the things that we have in the buildings are low impact such as the lighting and the toilet system.”
The Sustainability Committee works behind the scenes, but in order to succeed in more areas like solid waste, emission control, and habitat it must expand. Trimble made note that, “We are hoping to get more students involved. We have had some students on the committee in the past.”
“There are actually some schools that have zero solid waste, everything that they are producing is either recyclable or compostable” mentioned Trimble. “Hopefully we can do that too and begin to focus on other areas to become more sustainable”
“It is a goal of the school and the sustainability committee to become as sustainable as possible,” said Beyer. “We can become a zero waste facility, however this would require massive change. Kitchen scraps are only a small portion of the waste produced on campus.”
The Episcopal Academy