Take Action: Compost

Your challenge: Turn leftovers into fertile soil to avoid sending them to the landfill.

• Find a compost bin on campus.
• Sort your compost carefully.
• Compost at home.
• Set up compost at work.

Find a compost bin on campus

The Memorial Union has clearly marked bins for compost vs. trash for the landfill and recyclables.

Most campus eateries — the Memorial Union, Coffee House, Gunrock Pub, coffee kiosks and Aggie Stadium — host compost bins, as do the four residential dining halls.

Students in the Cuarto residence halls can participate in a pilot composting project called the Bucket Program, which allows participants to collect compost materials in their rooms and regularly drop it off at the dining hall.

Compost bins are also available in three pilot zero-waste offices, the Human Resources Building, John Muir Institute of the Environment and Mrak Hall's third floor. 

Sort your compost carefully

This may sound elementary, but it is important to follow the posted directions at each compost bin. Different items can be included depending on where that particular bin's compost will go — whether directly to the Student Farm or to an industrial composting facility.

In zero-waste offices on campus, posters above composting bins (available in letter-size, larger and in print from Repro Graphics) explain what can be composted from office settings. 

If compost is going into a naturally decomposing pile, then you most likely cannot include items such as soiled paper napkins and plates, meat and dairy products, compostable utensils and paper containers. On the other hand, most industrial compost facilities can accept these items as compost because they have effective ways of decomposing these items much more quickly than traditional composting methods allow.

If materials from a compost bin contain too much trash (that cannot be composted), then all of the bin's contents may have to go to the landfill.

Compost at home

Have a separate bin for compostable waste at home.

If you don't live on campus, try starting your own compost pile at home. The student-run Project Compost provides information for composting on campus and in your backyard, including a step-by-step guide. The group also provides answers to a thorough list of frequently asked questions including which ingredients can be included in compost, such as citrus peels, newspaper or oak leaves. 

If you want to start your own compost but don't have a backyard to do it in, you might be interested in learning more about composting in a worm bin, which can be kept indoors or on a patio.

To learn more about composting, attend one of Project Compost's classes at the Experimental College or sign up for a workshop from the city of Davis.

Set up compost at work

Whether you work on campus or elsewhere, UC Davis students have some suggestions for setting up a compost system in an office, retail outlet or food processing facility. In 2010 the student-led Campus Composting Initiative helped set up pilot projects for the CoffeeHouse, Memorial Union fourth floor offices, UC Davis Extension offices and for the processing facilities at the Robert Mondavi Institute. 

In general, finding a practical compost solution starts with assessing:

• the types of material (waste or byproducts) produced
• how much material is produced
• how frequently material is produced

Case studies of each location’s composting programs helped develop templates for implementing compost practices in

• an office,
• a retail outlet, or 
• a food processing facility (using an academic food science facility as an example).

If you work in an office or department at UC Davis that would like to set up compost bins, start with these templates to assess your building’s waste streams and then contact Waste Reduction and Recycling for further assistance.