School composting workshop

As a key part of our zero waste school project, we have designed a plan to start composting the food remnants from both the canteen and our students' snacks. Although the amount of organic matter collected from the bins in the common areas is not very big, a large number of people have lunch in the cafeteria twice a week and a considerable amount of organic waste is produced there.

To introduce the topic to our students, we have watched some videos about how important composting oganic matter is, what we can compost, how composting happens, the best conditions for our compost pile or bin, what we must do step by step... 

These are some of the materials we have used:

 

- CEIDA, resources for the classroom: El compostaje casero. (Spanish language)

- Composting at School, by US Composting Council. (With a very useful troubleshooting section)

- A Kids' Guide to Composting.

We have talked about all this, we have turned two old rubbish bins into compost buckets, carried out several composting workshops, organised the groups that will take care of our compost bins and control the process, and talked to the canteen staff to ask for their collaboration. 
This is a summary of one of our composting workshops with 1 ESO students:

An interview with the owners of the school canteen.

Today, seven representatives of our 1ESO students have talked to the owners of the school canteen.

First, they asked them about their recycling habits in the cafeteria. They are currently separating plastic, paper and glass, but not organic waste.

Second, they asked them how many disposable items they sell, and the answers have really surprised us: it seems that they sell around 90 bottles of water, 30 cans and 70 polystyrene coffee cups (really difficult to recycle) every week. Multiply it now... That's about 3200  plastic bottles, 1400 cans and 2450 coffee cups every school year. And, worst of all, most of them haven't been recycled until now. All these bottles and cans go straight to a landfill or are just dropped anywhere, where they stay for years, slowly contaminating our soils and water. Just imagine it...

Third, they have given them the recycling guide we have prepared and asked them for their help in the composting adventure we are beginning now. Our compost bucket is already in the canteen; now it's time to prepare an information poster and ask students and teachers to remember it is there. And yes, our canteen staff have compromised to collect what is left in the bucket and take it, together with the organic waste produced behind the bar to the compost bin we have in the vegetable garden.
Just to make sure the two compost bins we have in the school are enough, we must quantify the amount of organic waste they collect on a lunch-serving day (Monday and Tuesday) and on an average morning. They have agreed to separate that waste next week and give it to us so that we can analyse it and weigh it.
So... A good conversation, clear ideas and ready to start composting soon.