Project Clearinghouse

Student Education Toward Fresh, Nutritious Food Production Through Increased Composting Efficiency

Sustainability Problem and Proposed Solution: 

Our project will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by redirecting food waste that would otherwise go to the landfill and using it to create compost for our garden. This in turn reduces transportation emissions because the garbage truck would not need to collect this food waste and we would not need to go buy compost for our garden.

Jump to: Contact | Project Description | Funding Sources | Metrics for Success | Results
Project Categories: 
Land, Habitat, Watershed
Energy & Climate
Food
Awareness, Education & Engagement
Social Justice
Transportation
Waste & Recycling
Project Status: 
In Progress
Campus Organization: 
Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems
Food Systems Working Group
Program in Community & Agroecology
Project Location: 
On campus

The village


Stakeholder Contacts: 
Contact NameEmail AddressContact NumberDepartment
Karely Valdez
kvaldezl@ucsc.edu
9252505257
PICA
Claire Swetlin
cswetlin@ucsc.edu
6504308777
PICA
Margaret Bishop
mlbishop@ucsc.edu
9164208783
CASFS
Aileesia Arias
avarias@ucsc.edu
6616186431
PICA
Brian Banh
brbanh@ucsc.edu
2092848490
PICA
Funding Sources: 
Carbon Fund

Project Description: 

Increasing Compost Education contributes to the overall goal of Zero Waste by 2020 by diverting hundreds of pounds of food waste from on campus students. Our Student Education Toward Fresh, Nutritious Food Production Through Increased Composting Efficiency will increase the amount of food waste diverted from the landfill and educate the UCSC students on how to relate to their food waste. It will also allow students to gain the crucial knowledge of quickly turning old plant material (food scraps) into sustainable and organic fertilizer through vermicomposting. The Compost Coordinator at PICA will organize educational compost workshops that teach students the fundamentals of composting and vermicomposting. With these skills, students can easily learn to grow their own fresh, organic vegetables with very little or no need for brought in fertilizers and soil amendments.

Metrics for Success: 

The weight produced per month of vermicompost, and the labor costs of managing the compost and worm bins, will be compared to the outsourced cost of pre-made commercial compost. The cost of gasoline for each batch of vehicle-transported compost can also be calculated, and eliminated, from the resources used to supply PICA and CASFS, when using vermicompost system. The labor costs of on-site regular compost turning and maintenance, produce high quality compost, will be compared to the labor costs of feeding and watering the earthworm bins. The monetary value per pound of commercial compost and vermicompost will be compared. We will also measure the number pounds of food waste diverted from the landfill, produced from both the CASFS farm and the Village. We will do this by calculating the estimated diesel savings in the gallons of gas consumed and waste reduction in pounds saved over 3 years. Here are PICA's calculations of food waste diversion if implemented using the GHG and Cost Savings Calculator:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IU6T-32U43XQOkAoC36fKp3uxlgBnuGnj32y...

Next Steps: 
Worm bin volume increase: Adding additional substrate and new/more worms to worm bins Constructing compost piles and feeding worms: New compost piles will be constructed, and previously made piles will be fed to worms with student involvement. Workshops and application worm castings: Finalized casting will be extracted, processed, and applied to soil prior to plantings in both PICA and CASFS gardens.
Result Categories: 
Infrastructure/Built Environment
Behavior Change
Education/Outreach
Results: 

Our project will deliver the tangible result of creating less food waste in landfills. The project will be ongoing, considering the fact that mitigating food waste does not have a completion date.