Make your school more sustainable with composting
Make your school more sustainable with composting
A priority for SBMs is to ensure that their school is finding ways to be more sustainable to help make a positive impact on the environment. It can be tricky to think of ways to achieve this goal and what else you can do to help the environment.
Compost week is nearly here and it’s time for SBMs to think about sustainability in their schools. From the 13th to the 19th of March, the week aims to encourage people to start composting to help the environment.
A great way to make your school more sustainable is through composting. We have outlined how to create a school compost and ways to ensure that it works for your school. Delve into the benefits and why you should consider creating one and make your school more sustainable.
Benefits of composting
Composting has multiple benefits for schools, but the main benefit is that it is very educational for your students. It is also a fun activity for students to get involved with and, in the long run, is more cost-effective for your school.
Having a school compost can teach students about the eco life cycle and sustainable living by showing them the process. Composts convert green waste and food waste into nutrient compost that is perfect for feeding soil with and growing new life.
Setting up school composting
It can be hard to set up a school compost, especially if your school grounds lack space. We have outlined some ways to help you to set up a school compost.
Make space
The first step to setting a compost up in your school is to make space in the school grounds for a compost bin. Even if there is little space, look to see if you can fit a compost bin in the gardens or grounds. It doesn’t have to be a large space if it fits the bin in. Just make sure there’s space to access it.
A compost can go anywhere within the school grounds but choose a nice flat area that is easily accessible. Also, choose a place where everyone knows so that staff and students can navigate to it and get involved.
Shelter
An important factor to consider for a school compost is having a sheltered space or creating a shelter for it. This is crucial when bad weather arrives to ensure that the compost doesn’t get too wet or compromised. Pick a space to set up the sheltered compost or somewhere that has space for a shelter to be put around it. The shelter can be a wooden structure or simply a material cover that can be put up.
How to start composting in your school
After setting up your school compost, it is important to ensure that it works for your school and efforts are made to keep use of it. Below we have given some tips on how you can be prepared for composting, how to start and maintain the efforts.
Create a committee
To kickstart and maintain a school compost, you need to create a compost committee. Recruit teachers, kitchen staff, parents and students to help you on this journey and prepare your school for composting. This committee will start and sustain your school compost by working with each other and you. The committees' main roles will be to set goals, create timelines, monitor how it’s going and give new ideas on how to start and improve the compost.
Do waste audits
To be able to have an effective school compost, you need to determine what percentage of your waste is compostable. This is essential so that you know how large the container needs to be and how often composting will be done. Carrying out a waste audit helps to determine these factors. It allows you to understand how many organics your school is throwing away. As well as what areas of your school are collecting the most compostable waste.
For further information on waste audits, take a look at this waste audit webpage.
Ensure to have sustainable suppliers
To make your compost strategy work, check in with your kitchen staff to look at what products are being purchased. If they aren’t sustainable, look at compostable alternatives that you can invest in to give your school the opportunity to compost.
Take a look at the suppliers you use and research sustainable suppliers too. Think about what products you can switch to biodegradable or organic, and if your compost bin has the capacity to break them down.
Consider using compostable plates and cutlery too to make it easy for everyone to dispose of their waste correctly. They can simply throw any food waste and their plates and cutlery into the compost collection bin located within the school. Use degradable bin sacks so, you don’t have to empty the contents of the bin bags and allow everything to turn into compost together.
Buy your compost bins
After completing the waste audit, you should have an idea of how many compost bins you need. This includes the indoor bin deposit stations that you will need around the school to ensure that everything biodegradable goes into the main compost. This could be any bin if you label it as compost or an actual compost bin.
Decide on the number of deposit stations you need for around the school based on the size and amount of compostable waste you are producing. Research the best compost bin to use as the main hub too as this needs to be able to hold all compostable waste.
It is best for the indoor stations to be clearly labelled with a diagram so everyone knows where to go for the compost. It is also a good idea to have other bins together labelled, with diagrams, to encourage other recycling and disposal of items properly.
Educate and communicate
Communicate with your staff and students about the new composting system. Let them know how they can participate and where the stations are located. Get parents involved to further educate their children about composting to back up teachers' efforts. This will ensure that students know the difference the school makes by composting and are encouraged to get involved.
Some ways to educate staff and students about composting is through staff meetings, assemblies, newsletters, and announcements (offline and online).
Use these tips to set up your own school compost and drive your school to a more sustainable future. Ensure to re-evaluate your waste through auditing as well as the products you use within your school and try to make sustainable swaps. Research more about composting and build your committee to help you. Remember to maintain your new compost system and start your journey to make your school more sustainable with composting.
For more assistance with making sustainable choices for your school, take a look at our ‘sustainable alternatives’ blog to make your school eco-friendlier.
