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By John Dwyer, Food Service Director, YMCA Camp Chingachgook
At Camp Chingachgook, we use Earth Tub Technology for group composting. (And if you come to the maintenance conference in March you can see it in person!)
It’s a composting program for everyone at camp. During the busy summer season the tub fills up with kitchen produce scraps, egg shells, coffee grounds, unbleached paper napkins and towels, never any meat protein products, flowers that have died out, and pumpkins in the fall. Along with these items we add wood chips when the mix starts to get loose. The wood chips bring it all back together and make for a really nice compost. We usually empty the tub twice a summer.
The side doors make for easy clean out. After the food waste scraps have been dumped into the tub one to four people use the handles to rotate the top that holds the electrically operated internal screw that churns up the compost. The screw is moved in from the outer perimeter into the center in three progressive steps after two rotations have been completed. After the screw reaches the center it is backed out back to the outer wall and is all set for the next time. It is important to keep churning up the compost every day to keep the bugs from making the tub their home. The rest of the time mother nature takes over and does what she does best. The result is nice rich compost for the garden or flower beds and the process starts all over again. The only maintenance that is needed on the system is the normal grease and oil of the moving parts and changing the bark, when needed, that is in the aerator tub that keeps everything smelling good.
Funds were received from the EPA and private donors to make this possible.
It’s important that you have someone to manage the compost program, such as a program activity person (not maintenance). This will ensure that a learning environment is created and the knowledge of the composting system is passed on to future generations.
From the newsletter editors. Here are some resources to continue your learning.
Commercial site (not promoting nor endorsing), which has nice explanations of different technologies. http://compostingtechnology.com/
For resources for composting. see the COMPOST2015 exhibitors http://compostingcouncil.org/trade-show/
Do you have a good compost website? Or do you have another way that you do composting at your site? Add a comment below or send us a note (info @ callippe.com)