Project Compost

Project Compost also offers educational seminars in the On Campus Co-ops garden area.

Project Compost is a sub-unit of the ASUCD Campus Center for the Environment. Project Compost is run by students who bravely divert food "waste" from the landfill. Instead it ends up in giant piles where our microbial friends heat it up and decompose it into what's known as "black gold", pure unadulterated compost. Their offices are located in Lower Freeborn in the basement of the MU (Room #43)and the compost itself is kept on the Student Farm. They also compost literally tons of "waste" from Whole Earth Festival. If you have never sorted recyclables and compost for WEF you simply don't know what you are missing. You might even find a groundscore. Composting is the original form of recycling.

This is a pic from one of the popular Worm Composting Workshops held at the Co-ops by Project Compost If you are interested in learning about composting, come to a PC meeting which is every Monday at 5:00pm in our office, the Eco Hub (front side of the Bike Barn between the Silo and Rock Hall). Bring your questions and enthusiasm for composting!

WORKSHOPS All of our workshops start at 11 am. Vermicomposting workshops are located at the On Campus Co-ops, and backyard composting workshops are located at the Project Compost windrow pile, located at the end of Extension Center Dr. Check Davis Wiki for upcoming events, or send us and email to be informed of future workshops.

Project Compost is featured in an article in ASUCD's Campus Center for the Environment's 2006 Reorientation Guide. Project Compost shares its office with the Campus Center for the Environment

Here, the compost masters are giving workshop attendees free redworms for their own worm bins. Project Compost started its very own Worm Farm on March 17th, 2006.

Think composting in the dorms is impossible? Think again...with a worm bin you can compost inside or out, even under the kitchen sink. Here are some very cool first-years who had their very own Dorm Worm Bins.

Redworms turn your organic waste (AKA, food waste, leaves, etc.) into the most valuable fertilizer on this earth: worm castings

Staff

E-mail [email protected]

Interesting Project Compost Facts!

Project Compost uses an electric vehicle to collect from its campus contributors.

* Each week, Project Compost diverts over 2000 lbs of campus "waste"!

* Project Compost picks up from the Coffee House, pomology, the Silo, coffee stands, Student Farm Market Garden, and many more secret steamy places.

* Around 40% of all municipal waste is compostable.

* The compost pile heats up to over 160 degrees Fahrenheit and lets out a ton of steam when the pile is turned. (Turning the pile adds oxygen to the pile, which the micro-organisms need to survive)

*Project Compost also composts with worms at the Ecological Garden Vermicomposting bins. Derek, a compost aficionado, has two worm bins in his bedroom, which means he goes to sleep with over 3000 friends every night! Composting with worms produces worm castings, a very rich soil amendment that costs lots of money if you were to buy it off the market but that you can easily make in your own house (or outside your house).

Need Compost?

Need fresh delicious compost? Contact Project Compost at c[email protected]. Prices are usually $10/cubic yard (super cheap!), but availability is sporadic. Ideally, we will help teach you how to make the compost you need!

Looking for worms? Your best bet is probably a store that sells bait (try Ace Hardware). We have quarterly worm composting workshop where we give out a small amount of worms for free.

This UCD program receives ASUCD subsidies and in effect creates a cheap diversion of food waste to our compost piles!