Hello folks,

2023 has been off to a great start, beginning with our annual “Black Gold” Behind the Scenes Composting tour of the S.C.R.A.P. Lab for Princeton’s Wintersession.

A diverse group of 15 students, staff, and faculty joined the tour, including an Economics professor, grad students, undergrads, and staff from Facilities to Occupational Health – showing how composting is an activity in which everyone of all backgrounds can engage. It was great to hear that about 1/5 of the group has been composting at home in their backyards which helped foster rich conversation.

Over the course of the 90-min tour, we talked about optimal ways to home compost; composting recipes such as the difference between “greens”/Nitrogen and “browns”/Carbon; compost’s climate impacts; and Gina led a demonstration of the lifter and compost viewing.

Check out some of the sights below:

OPERATIONAL UPDATES

As winter break extended through January, SCRAPPY remained in “auto-digest” mode with compost having a bit longer time to mature inside of the vessel and then we had our first full month of operations once the semester started

8,233 lbs.

The total amount of material composted at the S.C.R.A.P. Lab in February

IN THE NEWS

North American Leaders Make Historic Commitment to Food Waste Reduction among them:

• Committing to reduce methane emissions from the solid waste and wastewater sector by at least 15% by 2030 from 2020 levels and deepen collaboration on waste and agriculture methane measurement and mitigation, including achieving the Global Methane Pledge through trilateral cooperation on methane and black carbon emissions.
• Developing a Food Loss and Waste Reduction Action Plan by the end of 2025 outlining efforts to cut food loss and waste in half by 2030.

One more reason to look for PFAS-free disposables: The Field Report: New Research Shows Dangerous Levels of ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Freshwater Fish. The U.S. EPA is now proposing national drinking water standards for six types of PFAS

ON TAP

• New Student and Staff Profiles
• March Operational Updates
• Coverage from our Re-launch Ceremony

Dear friends of the S.C.R.A.P. Lab,

Happy New Year! We hope all fifty-five of you are enjoying a great start to 2023 !

As with every first post of a new year, the ComPOSTer takes a moment to recap the highlights from the past year, and provide some optimism for the the current year.

2022 YEAR IN REVIEW

• We covered the construction, electrification, and equipment updates as the S.C.R.A.P. Lab was pieced back together at our new location

• We celebrated International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW) from May 1-7 with consecutive educational posts on compost how-to’s and compost benefits:
  • Composting at Home with Ted Borer
  • Composting in the Forbes Garden
  • Why is Soil Biodiversity Important?

• We engaged with 30 young professionals through the NJDEP’s Youth Inclusion program to introduce them to careers in environmental justice and sustainability
• We applied for and received a grant from the NJDEP’s Recycling Enhancement Award Research Grant program to study and test innovate new methods for using, collecting, and recycling compostable plastic products.
• After a 2+ year hiatus, we were happy to restart composting operations during the Fall 2022 semester, restarting our partnerships with Coffee Club and retail dining. We added a van to our arsenal to enable more food scraps pick-ups, diverted compostable materials from two large events, and altogether composted 5 tons worth of material in 2022.

2023 PLANS

New efforts and/or repeat activities that we didn’t quite get to in 2022:

• Hosting a Wintersession Tour to raise awareness of campus composting among the campus community
• Holding a re-launch ribbon-cutting ceremony with the greater Princeton community
• On-boarding an assistant operational manager
• Executing on our DEP grant to study improved ways to collect and recycle compostable serviceware, while engaging first year students in a new seminar called Decomposing the Science of Composting
• Launching new graphics and informational signage for the new facility
• Continuing to raise awareness about the environmental justice implications of composting when applicable

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for an exciting year for composting!

As the month and year come to a close, the ComPOSTer takes a look back to the first of the month when the team diverted organics and compostables at the Orange & Black Ball.

While ~2,000 undergrads came to Dillon Gym to listen and dance to music, eat food, and play games, EcoReps and volunteers helped students properly sort all leftover food, plates, and napkins into our “compost” bins, while only plastic cups* were sent to the landfill.

There was no need for utensils since only finger food was served.

We used non-PFAS added certified compostable plates from Eco-Products.

*we will be studying the success of compostability of PLA-based cold and hot cups in the future with our DEP grant, but at this time we are not accepting them for composting

OPERATIONAL UPDATES

1,157 lbs.

The total amount of material composted at the S.C.R.A.P. Lab in December (shortened month due to winter break/holidays)

STAY TUNED FOR OUR 2022 YEAR IN REVIEW

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

SEE YOU IN THE NEW YEAR

One month of restarted full-scale operations is in the books!

6,620 lbs. of uneaten, recovered food was composted in the month of November and we had our first compost off-load session this week as the vessel reached its operational capacity:

ON TAP FOR DECEMBER

• Food scraps and compostables recovery at the Orange & Black Ball
• Staff training
• Introduction to Sabrina Fields, our new Grad Compost Coordinator, who will be assisting with food scraps recovery efforts in departments across campus

Welcome back! We hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween.

Spooky season here at the S.C.R.A.P. Lab started off with servicing pumpkin carving events. We offered our small bins for the collection of pumpkin seeds and “guts” as the pumpkins were being carved.

We are not at the point where we can track down all of those pumpkins for composting on campus, but if you would like to compost your pumpkin at home, you can read: How to Smash & Compost your Jack-O-Lanterns

Later in the month, Gina attended the New Jersey Composting Council’s Organics Waste Management Summit. It is a wonderful annual event where composters, state and municipal officials, and more, gather to learn and network from each other. This year, some topics included: permitting barriers to composting operations; considerations for compostable product usage, PFAS management; and compost microbiology.

Speaking of PFAS, Peter Jaffé’s work on PFAS remediation was recently highlighted by the University in the below video:

OPERATIONAL UPDATES

852 lbs.

The total amount of material composted at the S.C.R.A.P. Lab in October

On Nov. 1st, the S.C.R.A.P. Lab started to receive and process the recovered, uneaten food from the Frist Campus Center and Campus Cafes. We thank our contractor, Organic Diversion, for filling in during the time that SCRAPPY has been offline.

Our monthly totals will now be much higher going forward. Meet the new student team who helps make all of the magic happen.

Until next time!

Dear readers,

Can you guess how many pizza boxes are collapsed in the below?

The last few weeks in September flew by, and while the S.C.R.AP. Lab is not yet at full operations, we are ramping up gradually, especially as we begin this year with a new crop of student assistants (bios coming soon!) and equipment.

Read more about the equipment, our successful resumption of collecting compostable materials from the annual Facilities Appreciation Picnic, and yes, the answer to the pizza box question, below:

NEW EQUIPMENT

Loading Lift Arm

We sought a new Toter lifter after realizing that our existing lifter proved to be undersized and unable to handle the excess strain from heavier and more liquid-filled Toters of wasted food.

After a year plus of research and confirming the correct specs as we designed the new facility, we settled on the Solus Group Dumpmaster, which offers a more efficient, safer, and adaptable design.

Stairwell & Platform

We sought an easier way to observe and access the loading hopper for addressing shredder jams and dumping smaller bins. This stair system was a perfect cost-effective option.

FACILITIES APPRECIATION PICNIC

Similar to the last event in 2019, we used bin monitors to help Facilities staff properly sort materials. With reusable cups and sporks offered, nearly all of the materials from the event were compostable. In total, we collected and diverted 133 lbs. of material from the landfill which included molded fiber plates, food scraps, and napkins (collected in the bags below), as well as a few trays of uneaten food. Coincidently this total was within a few pounds of the same amount collected in 2019. But with more people attending in 2022 vs 2019, this means that each person wasted less food!

SEPTEMBER TOTALS

739 lbs

The total amount of material composted at the S.C.R.A.P. Lab in September (includes coffee grounds, food scraps, pizza boxes, and serviceware)

Did anyone guess 41?

ON TAP FOR OCTOBER

Stay tuned for updates on the following:

• New Team Members
• Pumpkin Composting
• Frist/Cafes collection start date

Happy first day of classes to the Princeton community!

To ring in the start of the ’22-23 academic year, we’re featuring a Q&A with Sessina Dani ’23 who examined Princeton’s composting habits and the ways that people think about composting. Hear what she had to say about our composting system and the “bottom-feeder” organisms that make composting possible:

How did the S.C.R.A.P Lab help you learn more about composting at Princeton?

I was writing a paper on our relationship with composting organisms as a campus and as individuals for an anthropology class entitled “We Were Never Alone: Multispecies Ecologies in the Anthropocene,” taught by Professor Agustin Fuentes. I wanted to learn more about how Princeton University as a broad entity, and as a sum made of its parts, was conscious of and interacted with the composting organisms that sustainable food systems often rely on. Therefore, learning about the S.C.R.A.P. Lab was not only central to the research question but also my first introduction to Princeton’s composting system

What was your biggest takeaway from your research?

My research was focused on an anthropological lens, and it helped me gain a deep appreciation for composting organisms and other decomposers in the wild and inside our bodies. I had no idea the breadth of services that composting organisms offer and how that compares to their roles in the wild. I want to be really mindful of how and what I feed a compost pile and how to care for our composting friends like I care for my own digestive bacteria.

What do you think Princeton students should know about the university’s composting strategy?

I think more students should know that the composting system exists and that that is the purpose of the food chutes [in the dining venues]. I chose this term project because I was curious about how prevalent the composting system was in the periphery of students’ minds, and I found that there were even some dining employees that didn’t know what the food chute was really for. I think learning about the Forbes Garden really illuminated how full-circle our food system can be, and how awesome it could be if all students knew about and paid attention to how they interact with their campus’s food system, including the composting system.

What did you enjoy most about your project and work through the S.C.R.A.P lab?

I had an awesome time talking to students and Gina! I actually got inspired to intern at the Zhang lab this summer, which is the lab that works on sequencing the microbes in the compost pile because it was really awesome to learn about how interdisciplinary composting research could be. Although I didn’t work on the S.C.R.A.P. lab this summer, I enjoyed learning more about how microbes participate and fuel nutrient cycling. I think the Campus as Lab initiative is a great opportunity for students to learn about sustainability in their everyday practices here on campus, like mealtime. I’m really excited to learn more about Princeton’s composting system and get involved with the S.C.R.A.P. lab this fall!

Interview conducted by Abby Van Selous, Office of Sustainability summer intern

Fall Semester Composting Update

While we have not yet started composting wasted food from Princeton’s retail dining venues, we have begun small-scale food scraps collection, by restarting coffee ground pick-ups at the Coffee Club!

Dear ComPOSTer community,

The Dog Days of Summer are officially here. We hope everyone is staying cool and safe during this heat wave. It’s been awhile since the last post, but this summer has been a productive, exciting, and fun one at the S.C.R.A.P. Lab. Check out our latest news below:

NJDEP Research Grant!

We are excited to share that Princeton University is a grant recipient of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP)’s FY21 Recycling Enhancement Award (REA) Research Grant Program! Starting in 2023, we will be partnering with the New Jersey Composting Council, professor Dr. Xinning Zhang, and our other campus partners to study and test innovate new methods for using, collecting, and recycling compostable plastic products.

Specific objectives include:

1. Assessment of how well several types of compostable plastic products break down in the in-vessel system and subsequent piles or windrows (i.e. can they completely disintegrate/become unrecognizable?)

2. Evaluation of the effectiveness of using a chipper-shredder machine to reduce material size as a pre-processing tactic to make the composting process more efficient

3. Understanding the impact that the addition of compostable plastic products has on composting emissions, microbial communities, and compost nutrient density (both with and without pre-processing)

4. . Implementation and evaluation of infrastructure and messaging strategies to increase diversion and recycling rates of the compostable plastics and wasted food.

NJDEP Youth Inclusion Initiative

The Office of Sustainability recently hosted a tour for youth as part of an intensive NJDEP program to introduce young professionals across New Jersey to careers in environmental justice and sustainability. At the first stop at the S.C.R.A.P. Lab, we had a great time interacting with the youth, demonstrating the lifter, passing around compost, and overall sparking their enthusiasm around composting! Two more groups will visit later this summer.

Operations Restart Update

It’s been a long road due to the pandemic and our facility relocation, but after a 2+ year hiatus, we are happy to announce that the S.C.R.A.P. Lab is now up and running and will begin to accept wasted food from Princeton’s retail dining venues at the start of the Fall 2022 semester! We hope you will continue to follow us in our next composting chapter.

Our final post to round out International Compost Awareness Week will tie back to this year’s theme, “Recipe for Regeneration.”

So how does compost make our food more nutritious, the air we breathe cleaner, and our climate healthier?

In short, by supporting soil biodiversity through the contribution of organic matter in the form of nutrients and microorganisms (i.e. bacteria and fungi) which are the foundation of a healthy soil food web. Learn more about soil biodiversity’s role in agriculture, climate change, the environment, and human health:

Soil biodiversity and agriculture

Plant Nutrition: Soil microorganisms are both a source and a catalyst for supplying nutrients for plant growth. They make nutrients available to plants through interactions with other soil organisms and abiotic factors such as temperature, pH, moisture content. Nutrients derived from organic matter can reduce the reliance and misuse of synthetic inputs.

Soil biodiversity and climate change

Carbon Sequestration: Soils can either release or store carbon. Healthy soils store more carbon than that stored in the atmosphere and vegetation combined. In addition to applying compost, soil management practices that allow soils to be carbon sinks rather sources include: reduced or no soil tillage/disruption, limiting overgrazing and overapplication of fertilizers and pesticides, keeping the ground covered with cover crops and a diversity of plants.

Soil biodiversity and environmental protection

Ecosystem Services: Soil biodiversity also prevents erosion and bioremediates contaminated soils of heavy metals and toxins

Soil biodiversity and human health

Disease Regulation: Many drugs and vaccines stem from soil organisms (e.g. penicillin), antioxidants from healthy plants stimulate our immune system and contribute to hormone regulation, and studies provide evidence that exposure to soil microorganisms can prevent chronic inflammatory diseases.

Food Production: Soil bacteria and fungi are traditionally used in the production of soy sauce, cheese, wine, and other fermented food and beverages.

Source and to learn more: “The State of Knowledge of Soil Biodiversity: Summary for Policymakers”

Welcome back everyone for another day of celebrating compost!

Today we feature our efforts to restart composting in the campus garden at Forbes College after a hiatus due to the pandemic.

We realized we needed better oversight of the composting efforts in this space to minimize odors, so we hired a student, Jesus Arroyo ’24, to coordinate food scraps drop-offs and to manage the compost pile and tumblers.

Check out our progress so far:

Stay tuned for a video to meet Jesus and to see the work in action!

Thanks for reading!

Check back in for one more post tomorrow!