Central Community School Composting
Donation protected
The compost system at Central Community School has been active since last April. We generate an estimate of 12 tons of food waste per year. We compost fruits, vegetables, proteins, and napkins. As far as we know we are the only school in the state of Iowa with an on-site, student run composting program. Currently, the compost pile is stored next to the Turkey River in pallet stalls, but it violates many Iowa DNR regulations. The Turkey River runs through our school's campus. Although the river is a great resource, our school is limited for space. In addition, our current system lacks a sufficient carbon source. We would also like to make the system more community based.
A group of student from the Global Science class have been working to find a better system that will be sustainable for years to come. Through research and communication with industry professionals, they have developed a plan to fix our compost system. More importantly the idea will incorporate a more community based compost program.
The school's food waste will be dumped daily into a manure spreader. Next, a carbon source of a correct ratio will be added with the food waste. Once the manure spreader is full, it will be transported to the new composting facility. This facility will be located at the county sandpit across from highway 13. This manure spreader will be picked up by a city employee with a city tractor and dumped at the site into even compost piles. Regularly, the piles will be monitored and stirred.
This proposed system will positively affect a large portion of our community. First, many high school students will actively participate as volunteers in the composting system. In addition, students from kindergarten through 12th grade will be aware of their waste being turned into a resource. Hopefully, because they see the difference being made at Central, they will encourage their family to compost their food waste. Hopefully this will happen across the state of Iowa. The goal is to have other schools develop composting systems of their own. We plan to be a resource for other schools to learn more about how we do it. The community will be involved with the system by donating cornstalk bales as our main carbon source. Also we plan to have a dumping site for yard waste that can also be used as the carbon source. Once the system works, we hope to incorporate the city's or local restaurant's waste to our compost system and to use the soil created to improve community gardens.
This project would not be feasible without the flexibility and donations of the community. The system will need a gravel pad for composting and a sign to mark the site. The system will also need a shed to store the manure spreader and primarily the cornstalk bales. This shed will also be a dump site for yard waste. All of these are major expenses and require necessary funds to proceed. We hope to have the project fully operational before our school year ends. We would like the funding before May 16th. Any donation to our project will help educate today’s youth about the importance of sustainability and will greatly reduce the carbon footprint of Central Community School. We plan to publicize our project to the public and include credit to our sponsors on the signage for our site.
A group of student from the Global Science class have been working to find a better system that will be sustainable for years to come. Through research and communication with industry professionals, they have developed a plan to fix our compost system. More importantly the idea will incorporate a more community based compost program.
The school's food waste will be dumped daily into a manure spreader. Next, a carbon source of a correct ratio will be added with the food waste. Once the manure spreader is full, it will be transported to the new composting facility. This facility will be located at the county sandpit across from highway 13. This manure spreader will be picked up by a city employee with a city tractor and dumped at the site into even compost piles. Regularly, the piles will be monitored and stirred.
This proposed system will positively affect a large portion of our community. First, many high school students will actively participate as volunteers in the composting system. In addition, students from kindergarten through 12th grade will be aware of their waste being turned into a resource. Hopefully, because they see the difference being made at Central, they will encourage their family to compost their food waste. Hopefully this will happen across the state of Iowa. The goal is to have other schools develop composting systems of their own. We plan to be a resource for other schools to learn more about how we do it. The community will be involved with the system by donating cornstalk bales as our main carbon source. Also we plan to have a dumping site for yard waste that can also be used as the carbon source. Once the system works, we hope to incorporate the city's or local restaurant's waste to our compost system and to use the soil created to improve community gardens.
This project would not be feasible without the flexibility and donations of the community. The system will need a gravel pad for composting and a sign to mark the site. The system will also need a shed to store the manure spreader and primarily the cornstalk bales. This shed will also be a dump site for yard waste. All of these are major expenses and require necessary funds to proceed. We hope to have the project fully operational before our school year ends. We would like the funding before May 16th. Any donation to our project will help educate today’s youth about the importance of sustainability and will greatly reduce the carbon footprint of Central Community School. We plan to publicize our project to the public and include credit to our sponsors on the signage for our site.
Organizer
Ann Gritzner
Organizer
Elkader, IA