Hello,
Our district's high school has a commercial composter. We are being consulted for effective ways to ensure that the students sort recycling/compost/landfill successfully and have not found this topic addressed in this forum yet. Have you made this work/seen this work? If you have had waste monitors, how long were they necessary?
Thank you.
Diane Landry
Zero Waste Coordinator
Bainbridge Island, Washington, US
USA
Up until 2009, our city collected the organic waste from about half of our school district's cafeterias and composted the waste at a regional facility. Unfortunately, we were obliged to suspend the collection due to repeated contamination with non-compostable items. In the schools where there were waste monitors and ongoing education, the contamination rate was very low. Our most successful schools were at the elementary and middle school level where waste monitors (either adults or students) volunteered at breakfast and lunch periods during the whole year.
Erin Hoffer
Environmental Education and Community Outreach
United States