Published October 14, 2009
by afdubreu
The following appeared in the Wednesday, October 7, 2009 edition of Excalibur:
Composters crop up around campus
No servicing required for bottomless composters
Earthworms key to project’s success
You may have been wondering what all those cone-shaped garbage bins around campus are.
They’re composters – but not your average backyard kind.
York has installed new additions to the composting cones all around the university, in a continued attempt to make campus more environmentally friendly. Currently there are 50 cones at the Keele campus and two at the Glendon campus.
Campus Services and Business Operations (CSBO), the entity responsible for waste management on campus, has been exploring the usage of worms in the process of composting.
Composting is the biological decomposition of organic substances.
The Institute for Research and Innovation in Sustainability at York (IRIS) looked into potential ways of improving compositing on campus.
The outdoor system consists of bottomless cones that stand above half-a-foot-deep holes in the ground.
The items that should go into the bins include vegetables, fruits and plain carbohydrates.
This system does not require York to supply the worms; the worms that are already on campus are attracted to the compost and consume the waste.
Due to the bottomless nature of the bins, the garbage decomposes at a rate that precludes the need for maintenance.
Meagan Heath, a master’s of environmental studies student and member of IRIS, said the bins have to be emptied once a year in the fall before the frost so that they can be used during the winter.
“Waste management is a municipality responsibility and York has to manage its own garbage through contracts with other companies such as waste haulers,” Heath said.
There is a difference between what York University and the City of Toronto consider to be compost. For instance, the compost bins at York do not accept biodegradable packaging,
such as coffee cups, even though they are accepted throughout the rest of Toronto.
To help students determine what qualifies as compostable material, illustrative stickers on the bins clarify what kind of waste belongs in the cones.
The food vendors and restaurants on campus are required to collect any kitchen food waste and sort it into their own organic collection.
The compost is then collected and shipped to industrial composting facilities, paid for by the restaurant owners as part of their maintenance fees.
Posted in: IRIS News | Sustainability News
