Hi, this is the short story about how we will all sort our lunch trays and begin
the amazing process that starts right here with us. Because throughout the world now
people are realizing that recycling, reducing, and reusing is the way to go.
We are all in the process of changing our ideas about recovering resources and
even slowly changing our language. For example, calling food scraps waste to
calling it something valuable. Here, we start the process of collecting food
scraps just like other people in Chittenden County.
So, who is recycling? Well, the University of Vermont. UVM has an awesome recycling program and
students there can study plant and soil science and biology. Hospitals, like
Fletcher Allen, have been collecting food scraps for over 20 years. They've even
won national awards for it. So, let's see, we have cafeterias, hospitals and
universities, schools and businesses, families, gardeners, farms and restaurants
It's the story of how Chittenden Solid Waste and Green Mountain Compost turn
your food scraps into really, really healthy and amazing soil.
This is a place where all of our food scraps go. It's state-of-the-art and has
really big machines that move, sort and pile material and then it gets turned to
topsoil, potting soil, seed starter, and compost. So, it starts with you in the
cafeteria, making sure all of your food scraps are being sorted into the correct
spot. We're gonna learn the steps and ingredients to make these huge amounts
of compost.
But first, let's see just how much food is generated at our schools.
So, Chittenden Solid Waste District wanted to know how much food was left on average from a
typical lunch. They figured out that it's about 6.5 cubic inches, or about this much. That
means that each of us generate about 5.3 gallons of waste each year. Like this 5 gallon bucket.
That 5.3 gallons times all the
school children inch in Chittenden County is about equal to 22,308
cubic feet of waste. And this building is 22,320 cubic feet.
That's about exactly the same size. If we all work together, think about how
much of this great resource we could all collect.
A specialized truck picks up cafeteria food scraps, napkins, and paper towels and brings them to this facility.
The pattern of sorting can be different at each
school, so just look at the signs and the pictures.
Today I brought home lunch. My plastic bag with crumbs in it, and so does this wrapper, goes to the landfill.
All containers need to be empty before they are recycled, so I put the water into
liquids and then I have to recycle my container. Napkins are compostable, just
like your food scraps. And now, here's an expert with the brief explanation of the
composting process. This is the journey of our food scraps. We collect all kinds
of things, like straw, grass, leaves, coffee grounds, manure from horse farms, and
sawdust, all in addition to your food scraps.
All ingredients are mixed, chopped and blended. They're put into huge piles
where we add oxygen and water. The ingredients heat up they speak to 160
degrees. This is composting. This is finished compost. It's holding moisture
its nutrient rich and it's teeming with life. It's helping build Vermont soils
and grow healthy plants.
When I'm at the table I start to organize my food and my trash so then
it's so much easier at the sorting table. Okay, here's the next step in the journey
of your food scraps. Here's where us farmers and gardeners add compost to
whatever we're growing. Now this stuff is loaded with important nutrients such as
phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium. And when you have healthy soil you have
healthy robust plants too.
Your valuable food scraps made great soil which grew healthy food that we eat.
From soil to seed, to the food we need. It's wicked good.