JCCC began composting in June of 2011. We are composting all of our pre-consumer food waste along with sawdust from local millwork shops that otherwise would have sent the sawdust to the landfill. We are averaging 200 pounds a day of food waste and anticipate much more as the 2011 fall semester begins.

Our program will be one of the few composting programs in the United States using solar technology to turn food waste into a valuable soil amendment, which will then be incorporated back into JCCC’s farm. By composting, JCCC is not only decreasing the amount of waste going to the landfill and eliminating the need for synthetic fertilizers on the farm, but composting food waste also offsets climate change, by negating the carbon dioxide and methane gas that would been produced by the organic material deposing anaerobically in a landfill. This program will enable students from all disciplines and members of the community to learn about the science and environmental benefits of composting.

Early estimates forecast that JCCC will divert 1 ton of pre-consumer food waste per week from the landfill.

In-vessel composting

In-vessel composting is an industrial form of composting biodegradable waste that occurs in enclosed reactors. These generally consist of metal or plastic tanks or concrete bunkers in which air flow and temperature can be controlled, using the principles of a "bioreactor", with temperature and moisture conditions monitored using probes in the mass to allow maintenance of optimum aerobic decomposition conditions.

Benefits

• The program will serve as a learning lab for environmental science and sustainable agriculture students.
• $5,000 savings from diverted grounds waste per year.
• $4,000 savings from diverted food waste per year.
• Diversion of 6 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere per week.
• Diversion of 3.3 tons of methane gas from the atmosphere annually.  (Methane gas is 21 times as potent as the better known greenhouse gas, CO2.)

Links
BW Organics In-Vessel composter 

Videos:

Solar Compostor Coming to Campus - 2:07
A backpack journalism project about sustainability at JCCC created by reporter Teresa Taylor and videographers Amy Follmer and Brittney Spearman