This week we welcome another project partner to our growing list of composting venues: the McGraw Center for Teaching & Learning!

Like the Scully Co-op, the McGraw Center will collect any food scraps generated in its office in a 5-gal bucket for weekly pick-ups.  The effort will be spearheaded by the McGraw Center’s Manager Sandra Moskovitz, a sustainability ambassador who has been composting herself for 30 years.

Almost five years ago, the Office of Sustainability interviewed Moskovitz for a staff profile. When asked, “How could the University become even more sustainable? she replied:

“My number one wish is for a campus wide composting program, it saddens me to see the waste around campus that could so easily be composted—miles of pizza boxes, tons of used paper towels and paper plates, not to mention the pounds of food scraps that are thrown away in offices and classrooms each day. I know that this is something that is being discussed, so I hope that a program will be in place soon. It will make a huge difference in reducing the amount of waste that the University’s population makes every day.”

Thanks to outspoken people like Moskovitz, the University now has an on-site composting system that will continue to support expanded food scraps diversion efforts while contributing to an ethos of sustainability where organics recycling will ultimately become the norm on campus.

To realize this goal, we plan to partner further with Moskovitz and the McGraw Center around green office strategies so that all of their events are zero-waste, and to share these best practices across campus.

Weekly Data: 1/28 – 2/1

The lower volume of weekly food scraps continued into the last week of January as finals wrapped up and led into Intersession (a 1-week break before the start of the spring semester).

	Food	Wood shavings (BA/CS)	% BA/CS	Compost Off-loaded
Week Totals (lbs.)	2,504	776	31%	2,000
CUMULATIVE (lbs)	43,626	13,053	30%	33,250

With campus cafes closed on Monday (1/21) in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day,  we only loaded  2,238 lbs. of food scraps into the composting system last week, or about 40% less than the average weekly amount.

We did not detect any visible pieces of recently tested bioware in the 2,000 lbs. of off-loaded compost. These results are promising, but we will wait for this week’s batch of compost to know for sure just in case the material didn’t fully migrate to the end of the vessel.

Weekly Data: 1/21 – 1/25

	Food	Wood shavings (BA/CS)	% BA/CS	Compost Off-loaded
Week Totals (lbs.)	2,238	706	32%	2,000
CUMULATIVE (lbs)	41,122	12,277	30%	31,250

First Off-Loading of 2019 & Bioware Testing!

We had an exciting first full week operating the biodigester in 2019. Highlights included our first off-loading session as the vessel neared its capacity, and materials testing to help inform our Campus Dining team about types of food service ware that may be composted in our system versus sent to the landfill.

[Composted off-loaded on January 18th]

Henry Wietfeldt ’22 drops one of 50 palm plates into the loading hopper to be shredded before it enters into the rotation vessel. We also tested World Centric plant fiber clamshells, and the Huhtamaki ‘Chinet’ plate. In about a week or so we will be able to tell how well each of the items broke down in the system based on their presence (or lack thereof) in the finished compost.

Click here to watch as shredded pieces of Chinet plates fall from the auger into the input port.

Weekly Data: 1/14 – 1/18

We processed just under 3,000 lbs. of food scraps last week, which is lower than the average of about 3,500 lbs. for a full week. Composting is a great way to return nutrients to the environment to enrich soils and grow healthy plants, but ultimately we want to reduce the amount of food (especially leftover food) from compost whenever we can, so the reduced weight from our campus center and cafes is a win and a metric we will continuously track!

	Food	Wood shavings (BA/CS)	% BA/CS	Compost Off-loaded
Week Totals (lbs.)	2,986	950	32%	1,250
CUMULATIVE (lbs)	38,884	11,571	30%	29,250

Welcome to the first weekly bioDIGESTEer of 2019!

In our first (partial) week back in operation since Winter Break, we loaded 2,346 lbs. of food scraps and 727 lbs. of wood shavings into the biodigester, thus maintaining the approximate 3:1 ratio of food to wood given the moisture content of the food scraps.

We didn’t off-load any compost because the vessel was nearly empty after having off-loaded the majority of the compost from the system before Winter Break. It will take about 2 weeks from the first loading session of the New Year on January 7th until we off-load the first batch of compost in 2019 (i.e. when the vessel drum is about 75% full).

Weekly Data: 1/7 – 1/11

	Food	Wood shavings (BA/CS)	% BA/CS	Compost Off-loaded
Week Totals (lbs.)	2,346	727	31%	0
CUMULATIVE (lbs)	35,898	10,621	30%	28,000

 

 

Thank you to all who came out yesterday to celebrate the official unveiling of the Princeton University Biodigester Project with us.

If you were unable to attend, see below for several links to media coverage around the event:

Princeton University shows off their ‘Biodigester,’ which turns food scraps into compost in 5 days (Nj.com)

TV clip (6ABC Philadelphia)

Princeton University’s new biodigester makes food scraps sustainable (Princeton University)

Happy New Year!

To begin 2019, please join us next Tuesday, January 8th, for a celebratory ribbon-cutting ceremony to formally introduce the Princeton University biodigester initiative to the greater community.

See below for additional event details. Hope to see you there!

With Winter Break in full swing, and the holidays and New Year around the corner, we present a year in review recap of the biodigester project

TIMELINE

• December 20, 2017: The FOR Solutions Model 1000 Composting System is delivered to campus. 
• April 2018: Installation Acceptance Test completed to insure the correct electrical set-up and proper rotation of the biodigester’s mechanical systems
• May 2018: Arrival and waterproofing of lifter and other operational items
• July 2018: System receives UL Certification
• September 2018: Electric inspection and town code inspections completed
• September 18, 2018: Biodigester becomes operational with the first loading of food scraps from Frist Campus Center and campus cafes
• December 2018: Project expands to include food scraps from Scully Co-op
• December 14, 2018: Last system loading of 2018
• December 20, 2018: Last off-loading of compost of 2018

HIGHLIGHTS

• Over 16 tons of food scraps converted into nutrient-rich compost
• Engaged 14 undergraduate students as operational assistants
• 15 presentations/tours
• 3 related student course reports 

WHAT’S NEXT

• Plans to grow project by setting up additional campus food scraps collection locations
• Project logo!
• Experimental testing of different compost products (e.g. blends, teas) and applications across campus
• Cost-Benefit, Life Cycle Analysis and additional research efforts

Happy Holidays and New Year!

Stay tuned for updates in 2019.

We start off this week’s BioDIGESTer by welcoming the Scully food cooperative (Scully Co-op) to our list of partnering venues which already includes Frist Campus Center and campus cafes. Although the co-op is only expected to generate a small amount of kitchen scraps, the partnership represents a pilot effort to capture food scraps from residential settings on campus.

See below for last week’s operational statistics, and expect to see Scully Co-op’s contribution to the weekly totals in the coming weeks!

Weekly Data: 12/3 – 12/7

	Food	Wood shavings (BA/CS)	% BA/CS	Compost Off-loaded
Week Totals (lbs.)	3,338	1,032	31%	3,000
CUMULATIVE (lbs)	29,993	8,852	30%	20,500

In this week’s bioDIGESTer, we welcome you into December with an article featuring a Guest Commentary from FOR Solutions and our contribution Case Study on the biodigester. Read more on pages 60 and 61 of Waste Advantage Magazine’s December edition:

https://wasteadvantagemag.com/waste-advantage-magazine-2018-issues/

Weekly Data: 11/26 – 11/30

Lastly we  highlight operational data from the last week of November. We processed slightly less than usual due to limited dining hours over Thanksgiving break weekend. We also off-loaded half the amount of compost to compensate for the lower volume of food scraps over the last two weeks.

	Food	Wood shavings (BA/CS)	% BA/CS	Compost Off-loaded
Week Totals (lbs.)	3,305	1,000	30%	1,500
CUMULATIVE (lbs)	26,655	7,820	29%	17,500

 

In addition to the weekly operational statistics, this week’s bioDIGESTer shares an article highlighting the  project’s dual goal in serving as a teaching and learning tool as well as an opportunity for critical study through the Campus as Lab program. 

Weekly Data: 11/19 – 11/21 (Thanksgiving week)

With Frist Campus Center being closed most of the week for Thanksgiving recess, we only had two load/off-load sessions v.s. our normal three per week. Accordingly, last week’s load of food scraps was about 1/3 less than in previous weeks.

	Food	Wood shavings (BA/CS)	% BA/CS	Compost Off-loaded
Week Totals (lbs.)	2,275	687	30%	3,000
CUMULATIVE (lbs.)	23,350	6,820	29%	16,000

CAMPUS AS LAB: Biodigester as a teaching tool and area of study

Students in the class “Investigating an Ethos of Sustainability at Princeton” take a tour of the campus biodigester. The biodigester is one of many models across campus that allow students in the class to learn about global issues through a local lens by examining the sustainability initiatives and challenges at the University. Photo by Nicole Guglielmo

From the piece:

“If we evaluate the feasibility of a biodigester at the University, we can share our knowledge with other organizations seeking solutions to food waste,” Weber told the class. “A system like this also is an example of Princeton’s campus-as-lab approach, providing research and teaching opportunities for faculty and students.”

Full article: https://www.princeton.edu/news/2018/11/05/class-explores-ethos-sustainability-princetons-campus