Week 6-The Composting Project

Our composting project has continued this week and we're pleased to report that this week, we have seen some earthworms in it , much to our delight! We have increased the amount of dry waste (carbon) that we have been adding and the compost is more balanced. It has been  6 weeks and our compost bin is almost full and after the holidays it should  be ready to use.

Thanks to our Portfolio Manager who has supplied us with  good quantities of shredded paper from her office. Our Campus Manager and his staff have also supplied shredded paper from Admin. Also, thanks to the Access and Community  staff  who have supplied the food waste from the lunch room and also the Balga Canteen Manager and her staff who has been supplied more then 100 kilos of the food waste from the canteen. We are pleased to see that this project has inspired some  of those who were involved to reconsider ways of minimising their waste and also recycling it.

 

Week 5-The Compost Project

Mixing the Compost Can be Fun!

Week 4-The Compost Project

It has been a busy few weeks and we have been getting a good supply of food waste from the canteen. We don't want smelly compost so this week we will be searching  for extra carbon rich materials eg shredded paper, saw dust, straw or dried garden waste. The ratio should be about 5 carbon (dry) to 2 nitrogen (wet).

This week, I took two groups from the campus  to the Redhill Waste Management Facility which is a landfill site. First, we toured the facility while Jennifer Bennett,the Waste Education Officer,  gave us a very informative talk about how the different types of waste are managed at Redhill. After that, we  visited the Education Centre where we talked about what we had seen.

Week 3-The Compost Project

The level of interest from staff and  students  seems to be continuing this week. I had one of my students ask me when we were going to check the compost so that must be a sign that they haven't forgotten about it yet!  I'm often seen around campus carrying a bucket much to the amusement of the staff and students and the topic of conversation in the lunch room seems to be  about composting, power bills, solar panels and earthworms these days.

 I convinced one of the canteen staff to pop up for a few minutes, today and join the class to see what we were doing  with the canteen food waste and she seemed impressed.  We spotted a few earthworms in the compost this week but they had been lying low. I don't think my students are as excited about seeing them as I am but they now know what a earthworm looks like.   stay tuned...

Less Waste..Reduce.....Recycle....Reuse...

Our Composting Project is underway!  It's been two weeks since we set up the compost bin and the interest and support from staff and students has been fantastic. Kitchen waste is being collected daily from the canteen (1 bucket each day) and shredded paper is available from Block A, D and F so we have managed to keep a good balance between the wet and the dry materials. Some earthworms  and also some blood and bone have been added to compost so  that should help to activate it. Earthworms need food, water and air just like us so the plan is to keep them happy so they do their job!