Cayuga Nature Center's
Homemade Compost

P1. Demonstrate and implement a pre-consumer food scrap compost site of < 1000 cubic yards/year in partnership with Wegmans Supermarkets and Rodale Institute.

One of the main objectives of creating a compost site at the Cayuga Nature Center was to demonstrate how a low-tech, low-labor, low-cost compost site would work. The operation relies on a 1 cubic yard front-end loader as its main work tool. There is no grinder, windrow turner or screen available on site and the operator's time is limited. This is a demonstration of a slow but safe method of windrow composting that can apply to a small business wanting an additional source of income with few extra labor and equipment inputs.

The composting site was designed with the advice of Cary Oshins from Rodale Institute; Jean Bonhotal from Cornell Waste Management Institute; Mark Darling, composting manager of the Ithaca College food scrap compost; Dave Wazenkewitz from New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation and members of the CNC staff. A map was drawn indicating where the active composting windrows would be located along with horizontal distances to water, swales, property lines, and residences (attachment 1). A 26' x 30' concrete mixing pad was poured and a wall was built on the corner of the pad with 2'x 2' x 8' retaining wall blocks running 8' along one side of the corner and 12' along the adjacent side (photo 1). This block wall is used for the loader to push against during the mixing process of the ingredients that will be composted. In this manner the CNC avoided the cost of a grinder or mixer and simply uses a front-end loader to create a homogenous mix of ingredients (photo 8). The pad also restricts water from seeping into the ground and provides a much needed, year round solid surface to work on which is easy to clean after each use. Prepping the pad with wood chips and manure acts as a sponge for leachate coming from the food scraps as they are delivered (photo 3).

The CNC's primary piece of equipment consists of a 1-yard loader used to mix incoming ingredients and to turn the windrows. A screen was rented for 2 days from a nearby topsoil vendor. Cayuga Nature Center's tractor is used to plow snow for access to the site, mow to reduce weed seed contamination and move screened compost into storage for bagging. Also used is a 1-ton dump truck to transport manure from the CNC farm to the composting site, mixed ingredients to the active composting area and finished compost to storage (photo 9).

For monitoring the piles a form (attachment 2) was created to keep track of temperature, moisture, volume, weather and general observations. The CNC has two 36" thermometers for monitoring temperature.

To determine the carbon to nitrogen ratios (C:N) of the initial compost mixture, we referred to the On Farm Composting Handbook¹. This book is a good reference having information on many aspects of large scale composting. A form was created using a spreadsheet, where the volume of raw materials is entered and the C:N ratio is then calculated from that information (attachment 3 ). The C:N ratios at the CNC compost generally were 30:1. The CNC compost facility was set up to compost slowly with a high (30:1) C: N and a 1:1 volume ratio of raw food to wood chips to allow plenty of air penetration reducing the risk of odors. It is not always possible due to weather and ground conditions to turn the CNC piles, therefore it is safer to have a higher C:N ratio and lots of bulking agent in the event that turning cannot be accomplished due to weather or ground condition. Above all, it is imperative to keep the site from being an odor or animal nuisance for the neighbors who are close by (just outside the 500 foot minimum limit) and downwind (photo 11).

Other data that were kept included:

§ Temperature

to make sure that the piles were above 130 degrees F for 15 days.

§ Pile volumes

to extrapolate the amount of final product for sale.

§ Signs of animal activity

§ Total starting volumes of all ingredients

§ Pile moisture

§ Odors

§ Starting dates for each different cell

§ Turning frequency

The piles are turned with the loader on a weekly basis during most of the year (photo 6). Finished compost was screened in the fall of 1999. In total the first year of composting the CNC diverted 162 tons of food scraps. During the 20 months of the project 226 tons were diverted. The yield of compost was 224 cubic yards of unscreened compost resulting in 112 cubic yards of screened compost.

On September 21, 1998 the bulking agent, wood chips, for this demonstration project was delivered. Cascadilla Tree Care donated 1000 cubic yards of wood chips but needed to charge for the trucking (photo 5). On September 22, 1998 the first load of 1.56 tons of food scraps was delivered from Wegmans Food Market in Ithaca.

Wegmans Food Market has been a willing and active partner in the composting project from the start. With composting experience previously gained from other Wegmans stores across New York State, the partnership with CNC went smoothly. Joe Marron, from the corporate office in Rochester, arranged for the dumpster and its delivery (photos 2, 4 & 7). He has an excellent handle on the amounts of biodegradable wastes generated at different size stores. Joe Marron and Liz Thomas made a presentation to the department managers of the Ithaca Wegmans store soon after composting was underway to help everyone understand the process and each other's needs. As a result of this meeting, the quantity of biodegradable waste in the dumpster increased by about 1/2 ton per week and the contamination rate decreased. Contamination from plastics and glass decreased dramatically in December 1998 and continues to be about 3 cubic feet of contaminants for each 8-ton load.

Efforts were made to contact producers of wood chips such as tree care companies, village, town, city and county DPWs, the telephone company, electric company and lumber mills to procure a stable reliable source of wood chips. This was a much more difficult task than expected as the CNC site is located 6 miles north of Ithaca and 5 miles south of Trumansburg which is too far for any of these sources to deliver wood chips free of charge. The telephone company trims trees near the CNC once every 3 years and just been completed in the spring of 1998 before this project began. Also the town of Ulysses in which the CNC is located began leaving its ground woody materials on roadsides rather than transporting them elsewhere. Lumber mills and lumberyards nearby have sawdust and wood chips but are unwilling to truck this material to the CNC site without charge. As of this moment, there is not a free source of bulking material available for the CNC site, a fact that impacts the economics of this project.

At this point the composting procedure is smooth but there are some changes that need to be made to become more efficient. The equipment available should be upgraded especially the dump truck which is not roadworthy. The roadways on site also need improvement and the site needs to be bermed so neighbors will not have such a direct view of the site. A grinder would allow easier incorporation of waxed corrugated cardboard.

P2. Conduct a statewide training workshop for existing and potential municipal, farm, and institution compost managers and partners.

Cayuga Nature Center coordinated the presentation of a Compost Operator's Training Course held on the Cornell campus in Ithaca in August 1999. The course offered training on the technical aspects of incorporating food scraps into current composting operations. Its objective was to convey practical knowledge of composting food scraps on a small to medium scale basis of between 100 pounds to 5 tons of food per day. The course was geared to farms, municipalities, nurseries, businesses or institutions which already had some composting experience but could benefit from the inclusion of food scraps into the composting process.

Cary Oshins was initially to totally organize and run the educational component of the course. Unfortunately his employment with Rodale Institute terminated in the beginning stages of course planning. CNC then separately contracted various presenters to teach different aspects of the course.

Cary Oshins introduced the course and lead an interactive session to pinpoint course objectives of participants. At the end of the three days, Cary revisited these points to make sure participants walked away with all the information they had expected.

Robert Walker of Earthworks covered composting techniques and maintenance. Mr. Walker and Gary Tennant also organized an equipment demonstration at the Cornell composting site. On the last day of the course, Mr. Walker covered collection of source-separated materials including economics, collection systems, containers, volumes, operation costs, and training.

After Sally Rowland (NYS DEC) updated the class on New York State permitting regulations, Brian Jerose of Waste Not Resource Solutions spoke about site selection and engineering focusing specifically on Guptill farm's permitting process including costs, labor, engineering and time frames. Mr. Jerose also was one of several case studies presented at the course covering economics, material sources, composting methods, and product marketing specifics. Other case studies were McEnroe Organic Farm presented by Jon Nilsson, NYS Department of Corrections by Jim Marion, and Capital Compost in Albany by Tom Julien.

Jon Nilsson covered maturity and marketing topics including product quality and phytotoxicity. Representatives from Environmental Management Investment Group (EMIG) and New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) discussed funding options. There were also tours of composting facilities in the area. Besides Cornell, the group visited composting sites at CNC, Ithaca College and Future Farms where heat formed during composting was used to heat their greenhouse.

Before beginning the large task of organizing a course such as this, a questionnaire was sent out to a focus group of 94 people to assess the interest in this type of hands-on course (attachment 4). Thirteen people responded and of those 8 (8.5%) said they were highly interested in attending. Based partly on this preliminary survey, it was decided to move forward with the organization of the course. Attachment 5 is the course announcement.

The course was advertised through a number of avenues:

• Biocycle Magazine
• Waste Handling News
• NYSAR³ Membership
• NYS Soil and Water Conservation Newsletter
• New York State Vegetable Growers Association Newsletter
• Cayuga Nature Center Newsletter
• Cooperative Extension Newsletter
• All Cooperative Extension offices in NYS
• Select people from Cornell Waste Management's address list of composters in NYS.
• Northeast Organic Grower's Association (NOFA)

Overall, 1050 announcements of the course were distributed, mostly in New York State but some out of state as well. A total of 15 people attended (1.4% of announcements sent). Others expressed interest but it was a busy time of year especially for farmers and municipalities and some couldn't afford to take the 3 days off work. February and March have less snowfall to occupy snowplow drivers from municipalities and this time is less busy for farmers than during the growing season. Attendees had varying degrees of composting experience. The cost of the course was $200.00 to $250.00 (excluding housing) depending on the time of registration.

The breakdown of registrants was:

• Municipalities: 3
• Composting consultants: 3
• Institutions (universities): 2
• Farms: 5
• Nursery: 1
• Meat packing: 1

Ideally there would have been 25 attendees at the course and registration was limited to 35. Based on the initial survey of 94 people 8.5% of the people surveyed having a high degree of interest in attending, there was an expectation of a larger registration. Recommendations to increase registration for another course include:

• Publicizing the course in a wider geographic area than just New York State.
• Holding the course for 2 days instead of 3.
• Changing the time of the course to February or March when municipalities and farmers are not so busy.
• Mailing the announcements earlier. The general announcements went into magazines and newsletters in May and June. The detailed individual announcements were mailed in mid-June for a course date of August 9-11. This gave from 6 weeks to 2.5 months foreknowledge but maybe longer is needed.

The course was intended to provide information to help composters decide whether the inclusion of food scraps would enhance their composting operation by either speeding up the composting process, providing an additional source of income or having an alternative means of disposing of biodegradable food waste.

An evaluation was distributed at the end of the course requesting ratings on all the aspects of the course. The results were favorable overall on all topics with individuals having specific comments (attachment 6).

Based on the evaluation the course had very good ratings but it would be valuable to contact these same attendees in a year to see if composting of food scraps increased as a result of the course.

P3. In the Finger Lakes Region (Tompkins County and surrounds), develop a supportive composting network to build both community awareness and composting capacity and promote composting at other sites, diverting food scraps from the waste stream.

A key group including Monica Hargraves, compost educator for Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County; Mark Darling, facility operator for Ithaca College's food scrap compost; Lance Barr, an independent waste hauler; Jean Bonhotal and Ellen Harrison from Cornell Waste Management Institute; Mark Wittig the CNC compost operations manager; Gary Tennant who runs the Cornell food scrap compost facility; Heather Clark, a junior at Cornell University; Joe Regenstein from Cornell Environmental Studies; and Earl Hicks of Future Farms began meeting in September 1998 initially discussing curb side pick up of food waste but it quickly evolved into a focus on composting food waste from larger producers. This group kept in close communication supporting each other's ideas on how to compost more of the county's food waste, what were realistic goals and what ideas should be temporarily shelved.

These people constituted the core of the composting network. All had some expertise or interest in seeing large scale food scrap composting become more prevalent in the Tompkins County Region. There were others who seemed a natural fit into this network but were too busy with other responsibilities to become involved. In order to create a network that builds awareness and promotes the establishment of new sites, these members needed to have some extension responsibilities or a vested interest in seeing food scrap composting increase. In order to truly promote composting as a solution to food scrap waste, there needs to be a dedicated force going out into the community with the sole purpose of educating the public about the usefulness of composting. People are busy and while they may sincerely be interested in promoting composting, there are few people with extra time to give outside their primary employment responsibilities. Until composting becomes the norm in our society, there will be a need to support its promotion by a dedicated, long-term force of educated people. The composting option is still not common knowledge among the businesses that it could be most useful to.

In spite of the fact that this network and the project manager at CNC did reach and communicate with many people in the community, after the 20 month span of this project, no additional composting capacity has been created yet. There are numerous serious starts that are referred to in Learning Target section L1.

P4. Provide a working compost exhibit to educate the public.

This was accomplished in a number of ways:

§ The site located at the CNC which is a public facility,

open from dawn to dusk. There are 2 annual festivals at the CNC, one in the spring and one in the fall. In order to reach the festival from the CNC parking lot, people need to walk right past the compost facility. On average there are between 300 and 1000 people attending these festivals depending on the weather, resulting in between 1200 and 4000 people passing the site since the compost facility began in September 1998. There was also a large community-building project in the fall of 1999 at CNC. For that build, there were thousands of volunteers who drove repeatedly past the active compost windrows for weekends from October through December 1999. These events offered exposure of the composting site to the public. The Cayuga Nature Center also has summer camps where children are taught the basics of this type of large scale composting as well as backyard composting in hopes that some of this information will filter home to their parents or carry on in the children's minds to be drawn on in the future. One of CNC's Sunday Programs for the public covered the composting project. The CNC compost project was also discussed at a Master Composters meeting where people in the community are trained to help promote composting.

§ CNC has close connections with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County

which has contacts with the agricultural community and has a permanent position dedicated to promoting composting. Questions addressed to Cooperative Extension about large scale food scrap composting were routed to CNC and other compost site operators in the network.

§ A sign was painted by CNC staff and erected

at the composting site (photo 12) describing who is involved in the composting project, what can be composted, why compost and the objectives of the course.

§ A targeted group of approximately 30 people and organizations

who could benefit from this type of food waste composting was identified, notified of the CNC project and kept up to date with its progress. In this way, this group knew they were welcome to watch the progress and ask questions with the ultimate goal being that they would eventually become involved in composting themselves.

§ Displays were created

outlining the CNC composting process along with 8x10 color photographs. The displays were seen at Wegmans in 1998 and Cooperative Extension in 1999 for America Recycles Day, Cooperative Extension for Earth Day and Composting Week in April 1999. The display is currently hung in the CNC lodge for public viewing (photos 10 & 13).

§ Speaking engagements.

There were various requests from the community to come and speak about the composting project. Odd as it may seem to address some of these groups, there were reasons. A presentation was given to the Ithaca City Club, Kiwanis, Rotary, the Citizens Action Coalition and the Trumansburg Middle School. These groups included members of the town board of Ithaca and Ulysses, the Ithaca City Forester, the head of grounds at the Trumansburg School System, and an assortment of business and farm people from the area. One big hurdle in establishing a composting site especially one incorporating food scraps, is the perception of smell and nuisance animals. The presentations held the audiences' attention and helped dispel the fears of this type of large scale composting. It also helped to connect CNC with some future markets for the sale of compost, connected potential producers of bulking agents with CNC, and broke ground for community acceptance of this type project for future site operators.

§ Articles were published in newspapers and newsletters across the state.

Articles are 7 through 13 of the attachments

• Central New York Environment
• The Ithaca Journal
• Three Cayuga Nature Center Newsletters
• Soil and Water Conservation News (July 1999)
• Greenleaf (the newsletter from Ithaca's Cooperative Grocery Store featuring organic foods.)

§ The NYS Vegetable Growers Association

is interested in having a speaker come to their annual meeting to discuss large scale composting. A representative of the NYSVGA thought that vegetable growers were under the misperception that compost contains too many weed seeds and pathogens to be used on farms.

§ A short presentation was made

at the Citizen's Action Coalition meeting in October 1999 where water quality of Cayuga Lake was being discussed in conjunction with a proposal on the Town and City of Ithaca's wastewater treatment plans. More discussion of this is in the next section.

§ The Cornell Waste Management Institute

added a description of the CNC compost project to their web page. This is probably why the CNC began to receive questions about our compost system from around the country including California, Ohio, Massachusetts and Nevada.

L1. Can technical compost training and a supportive network increase the number of sites for composting in a specific geographic area such as Tompkins County?

Technical training is an accelerator to the development of food scrap composting sites. Although after the 20 months of this project there are not new sites that are accepting food scraps, there has been a shift in interest and movement toward developing sites. When tipping fees at landfills once again increase, these potential sites will then have the economic advantage to become functioning sites. It is possible to establish a composting site without technical assistance however the time frame for CNC was much shorter than it would have been had we been working without the network's technical support. There was a community of wisdom offered by the network that streamlined the set up and beginning operation of CNC's site. Before technical training can occur, there must be an identification of who in the community is interested in high volume food scrap composting.

The composting network met and communicated by e-mail regularly to address the following ideas:

§    Curb side pick up of biodegradable items in the City of Ithaca

This idea was quickly ruled out as impractical due to the amount of capital it would take to start up a project such as this and the logistics of regular pickups. It was decided to instead let Monica Hargraves, the compost educator from Cornell Cooperative Extension continue to address this problem through promoting backyard composts.

§    Surveying food scrap producers.

A survey was done to see how restaurants in the Ithaca area disposed of their food waste. The phone survey, (attachment 14) covered 35 restaurants asking questions such as how much food waste is created in a week, how is the waste disposed of currently, what is the billing structure for waste hauling, would they be interested in composting the food waste, and what would be the biggest incentive to do so.

The outcome revealed that most restaurants either were able to use garbage disposals for food waste or the food waste was taken away with the general waste. Unfortunately almost all the billing for the waste hauling for restaurants is by volume not by weight. Food waste is far heavier per volume than the paper and plastic which constitutes most of the general waste stream. If restaurants were billed by weight, there would be an incentive to divert the heavier food waste to a composting facility. As it stands now, most restaurants are billed for a volume of waste most commonly 2 yards per week. The food is only a small percentage of the total volume of the container, so eliminating food waste does not allow for a smaller and less expensive dumpster to be used. Therefore the cost of composting would be an additional expense beyond their current waste costs and that was not an appealing notion to most restaurants. There were 2 restaurants interested in composting even if they had to pay an additional charge for food waste but then the trucking issue arose. It is much more efficient for the waste hauler to have a full load of compost before making a trip to the composting facility and 2 restaurants created far less than the full load required to make this idea economical.

This is where the issue of restaurant composting was left until September 1999 when Bob Mentes of Alternatives Waste Disposal was contacted. He is a new independent waste hauler in the area. He has offered a more creative billing structure making composting an economical option. This work needs to be continued.

§    Composting food waste from a local retirement community.

This was a possibility that we were all very optimistic about. Kendal at Ithaca is a retirement community housing approximately 350 people. All residents need to eat at least one meal per day in the main dining hall. Using an estimate of 1 pound of food waste per person per day, Kendal would create approximately 65 tons of food waste per year. Residents in the community strongly support the ethics of composting their food waste and an initial survey found that there was space near the vegetable gardening area to set up a bin-system compost site. A meeting of interested residents was held in June 1999 with the general manager of Kendal, the food service manager, the grounds manager, Liz Thomas, Monica Hargraves, Mark Darling and Earl Hicks. Liz Thomas and Monica Hargraves then drafted a proposal for Kendal with various options for the food waste. One major shortcoming of the plan is that Kendal is permitted to get rid of all this food waste through their garbage disposal and although the Village of Cayuga Heights water treatment facility is already at capacity and sometimes over capacity, there was no incentive (such as a break in the water bill) offered by the Village for Kendal to stop this practice. Therefore composting at Kendal would be an additional expense to what is now a "free" method of food waste disposal. It is strongly suggested that this inefficient practice of allowing the use of garbage disposals in large food service kitchens is a disincentive to their participation in composting projects. Cities, towns and villages should be aware of composting as an alternative to garbage disposals for large producers of food waste. Once the food goes to the wastewater plant it is then classified with the sewage sludge as a biosolid which requires more careful treatment. Attachment 15 is the proposal to Kendal.

§    Locating a site in the city of Ithaca at the abandoned industrial site of Triangle Steel.

This still remains an appropriate site for a composting facility within the Ithaca City limits. At this moment the City of Ithaca needs to find a new location for its yard waste facility as the current site is being looked at for business development. In order to make the Triangle Steel site work, the City of Ithaca or Tompkins County would need to become partners with a private operator to offset the cost of the site and to help provide equipment. The city could also compost at this site as a municipal service but they have not expressed any interest in this. Having the right people in the right places who are aware of the positive possibilities makes a huge difference in the success of a project like this. Establishing this site will take a great deal of money and promotion.

The above projects were worked on as a networking group. There were also contacts made independently by CNC such as:

§    Adding heat generated from compost to a previously existing greenhouse.

Gleaning all sources of value from a composting project is sometimes imperative for it to work economically. Tipping fees and compost sales in some cases do not meet the bottom line of a positive net income. But using heat generated from active compost can offset energy costs of a greenhouse business.

T'burg Tilapia is an aquaculture business growing tilapia in 2 ponds inside 2 separate greenhouses. The heating bills to keep the ponds warm are a big expense. When approached about using heat from compost the owners were enthusiastic and with the help of CNC staff are now engineering a system to extract this heat. Liz Thomas also helped T'burg Tilapia to connect with NYSERDA in hopes of expanding their heat-from-compost project. They will be using their own fish by-products to provide nitrogen and since their business is in the Village of Trumansburg, they have a constant free supply of yard waste. They would like to take in food waste but since NYS regulations for food scrap composting sites are not in place, they will be concentrating only on composting non-food waste or site-generated food waste. (Refer to page 24 #1 for a more detailed discussion of NYS Regulations).

T'burg Tilapia also grows crops organically in the greenhouses and on the surrounding land. They are eager to use the compost to improve their gravelly soil. Before information was provided by CNC, this business had plans to ship all the fish waste to Tennessee for formulation into fish emulsion, use only heat from propane boilers, and import manure for their organic crops. Composting can offer some efficiency in dealing with all these problems.

§    Waste haulers.

Waste Haulers are a natural fit for food scrap composting because they frequently have the land, equipment, and economic incentive of avoided landfill tipping fees as well as reduced fuel cost from a shorter haul. In the Ithaca area the distance to the nearest landfill is approximately 70 miles roundtrip.

The CNC spoke with 3 waste haulers in the area: American Recycling, Alternatives Waste Disposal and Superior Disposal. All are interested in hauling for a composting facility but not in starting a facility of their own. However, Aardvark Industries in Savannah, New York owned by Linda Wright, is interested in starting a composting facility. She has been looking into the details of setting up the business. Since NYS is not issuing permits for composting operations under 1000 cubic yards of food waste, she is waiting until regulations are in place before beginning her pilot.

§    Organic farmers have the need for large quantities of compost.

George Hewertson is in the process of increasing the size of his organic farm. Liz Thomas spent time with George touring him through the CNC compost site, describing the process and answering specific questions dealing with the feasibility of his site. At this moment he is still working two jobs but once he transitions totally to organic farming, he will be looking seriously at starting a composting operation. He also is waiting for NYS to pass the regulations governing food scrap composts to see what will be required of his site.

EddyDale Farm is a wholesaler as well as a major producer of fresh produce in the Ithaca area. Currently they have approximately 1 ton of food waste per day or 365tons/year. Their now spread cull produce on the fields without composting but they are taking steps to set up a windrow composting operation instead and are using the CNC site as a prototype of what would work for their business.

Keeping in mind that different individuals will have different interests in composting depending on the nature of their business, this network proceeded to identify where composting could fit. For instance restaurants are not interested in composting but have to dispose of food waste. Municipalities can benefit by speeding their composting process through the addition of high nitrogen food to their yard waste compost facility. Farmers do not have food to compost but benefit from an additional source of income in the form of tip fees for composting food scraps and organic farmers have a need for large quantities of high quality compost such as that resulting from composting food waste

It is imperative to find a key person who wants to take on the composting cause within an organization. Any of the schools can compost with fairly little extra effort, but there needs to be a person within the school organization who is the leader and driver of the project. It is best to have that person be the grounds manager for a school since the equipment needed will be easily accessible. Without an enthusiastic, knowledgeable leader, any composting project will flounder.

The following are people contacted by CNC to discuss the possibility of becoming involved in composting either by starting a new site, contributing food scraps to an existing site, providing carbon, or lobbying to encourage involvement in diverting food from the general waste stream.

Name	Position	Suitability	Results
Alan Vogel	Trumansburg Village Trustee, Teacher at BOCES of greenhouse management	Oversees village DPW within 4 miles of CNC, connection to BOCES for composting food waste from dining facility.	Deferred to Ian Duncan (DPW supervisor), addressing BOCES food waste needs more work.
Ian Duncan	DPW supervisor for the Village of Trumansburg	Already composts leaves and has equipment at village site, would like to divert leaves to another composting site.	Driving 4 miles to the CNC was denied due to the canvas tops of the truck being too flimsy for the drive. The yard waste site is closer. Worries about plastic contamination.
Jim Meeker	DPW town of Ulysses	Has site for composting, composts wood chips though beginning to leave on roadsides, has equipment needed for composting	Wood chips do not accumulate due to residents use therefore there is no interest in speeding the composting process by adding food waste and no carbon waste accumulation
Mike Babcock	Grounds manager at Trumansburg School District	Food scraps composted on site could be used in the classroom	Grounds manger's job is already time consuming enough without additional time for composting.
David Fernandez	Owner of Cayuga Landscaping, the largest nursery in the Ithaca area	Site, equipment, market for end product, available carbon in form of wood chips.	Nursery uses composted animal manure from a cheaper source than CNC compost. Nursery business is lucrative without composting.
Town of Enfield		Has wood chips, site, equipment	Wood chips do not accumulate due to residents use therefore there is no interest in speeding the composting process by adding food waste.
Rich Schott	Town of Ithaca Yard Waste	Has too many woodchips, equipment, site	This site is not interested in incorporating food even though they have an extreme excess of woodchips. Chips were donated to the CNC but trucking for chips cost $1200.00/year.
John Santos	Hazlitt Vineyards	Has site, need for large quantities of compost for disease suppression and fertility on farm	This is an ongoing possibility. They are very interested in starting their own compost site.
John Stetser	Coastal Lumber	Potential source of wood chips and sawdust,	Considerable excess of wood chips and sawdust but no interest in free trucking to CNC.
Tony Baxter	Alternative Community School teacher at the high school level.	Environmentally active school, have food waste from cafeteria.	Began composting food waste on school site in 1998.
Cliff DeMay	Fruit farmer	Has site, equipment, apple pumice, some chips	Ran out of time to look into this in more detail. Still potentially interested.
Tony Potenza	Organic crop grower	Site, equipment, interest in end product, has some feed stocks	No extra time to start food scrap composting, too far from Ithaca food scrap sources (12 miles), has a cheap form of compost from animal manures.
Andy Hillman	Ithaca City Forester	Excess wood chips, no site, no equipment	Andy is a contact who will help promote the idea of composting, but no method of transporting chips.
John Freideborn	Owner of Cascadilla Tree Care	Excess wood chips, equipment, site.	Tree care company is a full time commitment, and they do not sell topsoils. Will truck woodchips for free if they are cutting within 4 miles of CNC site.
Jack Simrell	Tree surgeon and landscaper	Excess wood chips, possible site, equipment, has market for end product	Tree care company is full time commitment, Jack is interested in purchasing compost for sale but not at a price that CNC can make money with. Will truck woodchips for free if they are cutting within 4 miles of CNC site.
Peter Penniman	Tompkins County representative and formerly on Ulysses Town Board	Political influence, supports composting efforts	Peter is a contact who will help promote the idea of composting in the county but there are many other issues to address as county representative.
Jim Proctor	Contractor	Sells topsoil, compost, has site, equipment, screen	This is still an ongoing possibility. He is very interested in the finished compost but cannot buy from CNC at a profit-making price.

With each contact made, there is possibility of finding the right fit for another composting operation. It is not an easy undertaking to start a new composting facility especially with tipping fees at landfills being low and NYS still unresolved on regulations governing food scrap composting sites. Each of these people has influence in their own sphere, some provide wood chips, some provide advice, and some spread the word to others raising awareness in the community. Given more time, and a more conducive climate, there could certainly be more composting sites created.

L2. Is it economically feasible to provide composting through de-centralized local compost sites?

The economics of de-centralized composting changes depending on the variables of which there are many. Given the right situation, composting of food scraps is economically feasible, but these variables should be closely scrutinized before launching off into the business

These criteria are critical to have in place before beginning a food scrap composting facility:

§    A site with land that is not currently in active use.

Land is never free however there are situations where using the land to compost will increase the productivity of an area. A landscape business may have a piece of land that is not in the production of nursery stock or is unsuitable for sales. A municipality may be already composting wood by-products and yard waste. The addition of food will speed up the composting process thereby freeing space at the yard waste facility. An organic or conventional grower may find that composting food waste brings in additional funds and creates a product that is beneficial to that farm's soils therefore making the set aside of a piece of land for composting worthwhile. Having to pay additional rent to acquire or lease a piece of land will have negative effects on the economics of a startup composting facility.

§    Inexpensive sources of high carbon materials and bulking agents.

Grocery stores generally save money by composting their food waste therefore the incentive is present for them to become involved. However if the composting facility does not have the other materials on site for free, this once again has a negative effect on economics. A tree care company may not have enough outlets for excess wood. Rather than paying for trucking to a yard waste facility, they can be used as a bulking agent for food scrap composting. The tree care company now has an extra commodity from what was a waste. Municipalities or lumberyards that have excess wood chips would benefit from the addition of food scraps to increase the decomposition rates and free up space. Dairy and poultry farmers can increase revenues by accepting food waste to compost with their manures. Any business with excess high carbon waste can benefit by adding food to that waste for quicker decomposition i.e. paper, cardboard, used straw, sawdust, yard waste or wood chips.

§    The site needs to be in close proximity to an urban area.

Food waste is generated where there are high concentrations of people. Therefore to reduce costs of trucking food scraps, carbon and finished compost, the site should be within 5 to 10 miles of the urban area. Trucking costs can quickly add up especially if any of the ingredients of the compost need to be transported to the site.

§    Equipment.

Equipment, like land, is never free but a composting operation can help to keep its use maximized. A business that already has a loader, dump truck, and tractor with forks has all the necessary equipment for a low-tech compost operation such as the CNC site. A grinder or feed mixer is helpful but not necessary. As soon as equipment must be purchased specifically for composting the whole composting operation needs to be scaled up considerably to cover equipment costs. The CNC did not use a windrow turner and the screen was rented inexpensively. Appropriate sites which meet the equipment needs of a composting operation would include: nurseries, municipalities, growers, some schools, some institutions, and contractors especially those marketing topsoil, and lumber yards.

§    Markets.

A nursery or contractor that is already in the business of selling soils and soil amendments has an inexhaustible supply of product when the compost is created on site. This avoids trucking expenses of bringing the product in from other areas.

The tables below outline the economics of the CNC compost operation. Unknown at this point is how much of the product will be sold as bagged product in spring 2000 therefore the income per ton is unknown. The target in 2000 is to sell bagged compost at $5.99/ 20 lb bag retail at Wegmans, bringing in $3.84 to CNC. After expenses net income per bag is estimated at $1.50 resulting in an income of $150.00/ton. Some compost will be sold bulk at $25.00/yard or $50.00/ton.

Annual Economics at CNC
EXPENSES							Annual cost
Labor admin and technical			40 hrs/week @ $14.00/hr				$ 29,120.00
Labor - bagging			120 hrs @	$8.00/hr			$ 960.00
Operation and maintenance			200/mo				$ 2,400.00
Screen							$ 500.00
Equipment
Loader			200/mo				$ 2,400.00
Tractor			100/mo				$ 1,200.00
Dump truck			200/mo				$ 2,400.00
Trucking for carbon							$ 1000.00
Bags and label			13000 bag@.30				$ 3,900.00
Office supplies							$ 500.00
Utilities, office equipment							$ 3,000.00
Site maintenance							$ 1,000.00
Advertisement							$ 100.00
Mileage			3000 mi @ .31				$ 930.00
Monitoring equipment							$ 300.00
							$ 49,710.00

ANNUAL REVENUES at tip		Fees of $20.00/ton
	Raw food	at 5 ton/week			at 10 ton/wk			at 15 ton/week
	Screened compost	130 tons/yr			260 tons			390 tons
			Total $			Total $			Total $
Annual tip fee $20/ton		$5,200.00			$10,400.00			$15,600.00
Sales@
$25/ton		$3,250.00	$8,450.00		$6,500.00	$16,900.00		$9,750.00	$25,350.00
$50/ton		$6,500.00	$11,700.00		$13,000.00	$23,400.00		$19,500.00	$35,100.00
$75/ton		$9,750.00	$14,950.00		$19,500.00	$29,900.00		$29,250.00	$44,850.00
$100/ton		$13,000.00	$18,200.00		$26,000.00	$36,400.00		$39,000.00	$54,600.00
$150/ton		$19,500.00	$24,700.00		$39,000.00	$49,400.00		$58,500.00	$74,100.00
$200/ton		$26,000.00	$31,200.00		$52,000.00	$62,400.00		$78,000.00	$93,600.00

The revenues are based on a 50% reduction of volume of food waste from delivery to finished product including other materials used in composting.

ANNUAL REVENUES at tip		fees of $25.00/ ton
	raw food	at 5 ton/week			at 10 ton/wk			at 15 ton/week
	Screened compost	130 tons/yr			260 tons			390 tons
			Total $			Total $			Total $
Annual tip fee $25/ton		$6,500.00			$13,000.00			$19,500.00
sales@
$25/ton		$3,250.00	$9,750.00		$6,500.00	$19,500.00		$9,750.00	$29,250.00
$50/ton		$6,500.00	$13,000.00		$13,000.00	$26,000.00		$19,500.00	$39,000.00
$75/ton		$9,750.00	$16,250.00		$19,500.00	$32,500.00		$29,250.00	$48,750.00
$100/ton		$13,000.00	$19,500.00		$26,000.00	$39,000.00		$39,000.00	$58,500.00
$150/ton		$19,500.00	$26,000.00		$39,000.00	$52,000.00		$58,500.00	$78,000.00
$200/ton		$26,000.00	$32,500.00		$52,000.00	$65,000.00		$78,000.00	$97,500.00

Savings for food scrap producers

	Maximum savings	Minimum savings
Tip fee/ton	$20.00	$25.00
Trucking/ton	$12.00	$16.00
Total cost/ton	$32.00	$41.00
Landfill cost/ton	$60.00	$45.00
Savings for store per ton	$28.00	$4.00
At 365 tons per year (1ton/week)	$10,220.00	$1,460.00

At the beginning stages of planning for the CNC compost site the tipping fees at landfills servicing the Ithaca, NY vicinity averaged $60.00/ton. By the time that the composting site was equipped for receiving its first load, the tipping fee at the landfill had dropped to $45.00/ton thus impacting the savings on the part of Wegmans and the income of the CNC. Trucking costs varied per ton depending on how full the dumpster was since there was only one fee for trucking the dumpster to the CNC no matter how full the container. As Wegmans increased the tonnage of biodegradable materials in the dumpster, the cost per ton for trucking was reduced. Maximum savings can be realized by large producers of food waste such as grocery stores and large institutions such as colleges and universities. Changing the tipping fee from $20.00 to $25.00 is not a great change in income however it is the only working capital available between the annual sales of compost product.

It is more likely that revenues will cover expenses of a composting site such as the one the size of CNC's if:

§    There is land available for composting

§    The trucking costs are minimized for carbon and food waste by being close to an urban center,

§    Equipment is already available,

§    Carbon sources are inexpensive or free,

§    A market for a bagged end product exists for at least $75/ton and preferably $100/ton

§    The site composts a minimum of 15 tons/week of food waste.

The following situations are most suited to composting food scraps as a revenue producing part of their business. Each individual site needs to be evaluated for its appropriateness however these businesses often already have many of the criteria necessary for composting therefore require less capital investment to get started. Sites that can realize the most profit meet all these criteria, but even sites with some of these criteria in place can be profitable. What should be avoided is sites that meet none of these criteria.

Type of business	Land for site	Distance to urban center	Equipment availability	Carbon sources	Compost markets
Nursery	M	y	y	m	Y	If tree services are provided, then carbon source is available
Dairy or poultry	y	n	Y	m	n	Beneficial if located near an urban area providing market and carbon without large trucking costs. Marketing is an additional business.
Municipality	m	y	y	y	y	Using compost for roadwork and landscaping for municipalities can offset large topsoil purchases. Composting also provides a means for disposing of road kill.
Greenhouses	M	M	M	M	Y	Heat from compost can help offset energy costs. Compost valuable as a growing medium
Organic or other Growers	Y	N	Y	M	Y	Food scraps are income source and compost improves crop yields. Can be incorporated into cull produce composting.
Waste disposal companies	y	y	y	m	N	Composting could save on money spent on transportation
Schools/Institutions/ Universities	m	y	m	n	M	Compost can be used on site. Universities usually have a high amount of food waste.
Lumber mills	y	n	y	y	M	Food waste speeds the decomposition of wood by-products, decreasing space needs and increasing value of wood by-products.
Paper manufacturer	y	n	y	y	n	Increases the decomposition and marketability of paper pulp

In summary, it is best to have as many requirements for a composting facility already met before beginning the business.

L3. Can quality compost be produced under this model?

Composters across New York State are currently involved in a discussion of what comprises "quality" compost. This has not been settled yet but the compost from CNC passes the tests of maturity and stability that are generally accepted.

In November 1999 we screened all the compost from September 1998 to July 1999 for sale in April 2000. All the compost was mixed together to avoid having pockets of less cured compost. The criteria used to determine the maturity were:

§    Heat monitoring. The screened compost had a temperature within 20 degrees of the ambient air.

§    The compost was mature enough to allow lettuce seeds to start and grow. The germination rates were not as high in the compost as in the seed starter mix, but this compost will be sold as a soil amendment or for potted plants not as a seed starter. The seed test is a relative guideline of maturity.

§    The Solvita test which indicated a level 7 which is suitable for topsoil, bedding plants, potted plants and general gardening.

§    The jar test where a cup of compost from a composite sample is brought just to the point of saturation with water, sealed and left in the jar for 2 weeks. When opened the compost had no unpleasant odors signaling that no anaerobic decomposition had occurred.

The screen used had a 3/8 inch wire mesh and most of the screened product was fine (under ¼") but some particles up to ½" did find their way into the finished product. These larger particles did not deter the buyer of bagged material at Wegmans.

The compost will be sold in a few different ways. As much as possible will be sold through Wegmans Food Markets where the food scraps originated. This is a good example of full circle recycling as the food waste is collected, composted and resold as a marketable product. Bagged product will also be sold at an annual plant sale and at the CNC. The rest will be sold bulk to the public.

L4. What types of partnerships are the most effective between waste producers, haulers, composters, and compost consumers?

Effective partnerships come in all combinations due to the variables within businesses. What is most important to keep in mind is efficiency meaning that transportation, equipment, labor, site operation and marketing costs all need to be minimized. Diagram 16 is an illustration of the potential flow of components needed for a successful composting operation. The diagram shows that although any of the four sectors has reason to compost food waste, there are some partnerships that make more sense than others.

Starting with food scrap producers, the bigger the producer of food waste, the more monetary incentive there is to have the food waste composted instead of sent to the landfill. This may not hold true if the landfill is located very close-by or if the food scrap producer is in a region of low landfill tipping fees. In Ithaca, the landfill is approximately 35 miles away (a 70 mile roundtrip) and the tipping fees range from $45.00 to $60.00/ton. With larger quantities of food waste produced, the costs for composting decrease as the trucking is usually less per ton, and the in-house collection methods can be streamlined. For the compost operator, large producers are easier to work with since they require less organizational work per ton than many small producers.

Frequently small producers of food waste such as restaurants have a price for total waste disposal by volume, not by weight which is a disincentive for composting. They also require separate pickups of food waste from the general waste stream which makes composting more expensive rather than less.

Universities, large institutions (hospitals, retirement communities) can save money by composting on site. Shipping food waste to a composting facility may be cost prohibitive but if the organization has an area that can be used for composting, the savings on waste disposal usually pays off over time. This can also help offset costs by reducing the need to import topsoil for landscaping projects and turf maintenance.

Public schools are an excellent place to promote composting of large amounts of food waste because children are introduced to the concept of composting and it can be incorporated into the science and math curriculum. In order for schools to be successful there needs to be a grounds person who is willing to take on the primary responsibility of compost operation or there needs to be a supportive administration that can encourage the grounds person to participate. Carbon, in the form of yard waste, is usually readily available from municipalities near schools since they are in urban areas and require little transportation.

Composting food waste fits well into businesses and organizations that produce excess carbon such as yard waste facilities, arborists, lumber mills, and paper companies. The high nitrogen content in food helps achieve the correct C:N ratio for quicker decomposition of high carbon products. Also compost is an additional product, besides wood chips that can be offered to the public for sale. Compost can offset municipal topsoil requirements for landscaping, turf and roadwork.

Lumber mills already are geared for marketing wood chips, and bark mulch, both of which are purchased by nurseries or directly by the public. Depending on the location of the lumber mill, the addition of food scraps will speed decomposition of the wood and produce and additional revenue stream from compost sales.

Paper mills and animal boarding operations that create excess carbon may benefit, once again depending on the distance to a food scrap composting operation, by simply ridding themselves of an waste product that a composting facility can use.

Cayuga Nature Center tried composting waxed corrugated cardboard from Wegmans and the attempt was successful. The initial mixing process of food waste with other ingredients did slow down because the cardboard was not ground. It decomposed quickly, was a good carbon supply and bulking agent. Grocery stores generally receive much of their produce in waxed corrugated boxes and can save on landfill tip fees by composting this waste with the food.

For any of these carbon waste producers, if composting is not an option, excess wood products can be trucked to a composting facility where it is a valuable ingredient if transportation costs permit.

Waste haulers both private and public can save in tipping fees and transportation costs if they have access to a composting facility nearby or a composting operation can be located on site for the waste hauler to totally avoid tipping fees and maximize land and equipment use. There is an additional labor cost, but this may be far offset by other savings. Waste haulers that own their own landfill will have almost no incentive to compost unless landfill space is limited. This varies across the country but the landfill closest to Ithaca has plenty of space and is owned by the prominent waste hauler in town. The end product would probably need to be sold in bulk to a compost user or in the case of a municipality, the compost can be used to offset topsoil needs.

Compost users can either purchase compost manufactured by carbon waste producers or waste haulers or become the compost site operator themselves. This makes particular sense when the compost end user needs large quantities of compost such as organic growers, vegetable and fruit growers, viticulturists, topsoil contractors and some nurseries depending on the nature of the nursery business. Any business that will indirectly benefit from the increased yields resulting from the incorporation of compost into their soils is best off becoming a food scrap compost site operator and contracting with food and carbon waste producers to transport their products. This again will only work if the transportation costs can be kept in check.

Some large dairy and poultry farmers are currently looking at the option of composting animal waste as a method of complying with Confined Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) regulations. In these cases, the farms have an excess of nutrients from the manure and now compost to create a marketable product that moves those nutrients off farm. The tipping fees from food waste is an additional revenue flow as is the resulting extra marketable volume of compost for bulk and bagged sale.

Grocery stores and home garden sections of department stores are an outlet for locally made compost. Although these compost users would rarely be suitable for operating a composting site, they are a good connection to the lucrative bagged compost retail market. Grocery stores who are using a composting site to dispose of their food waste may be more willing to look into cooperative sales of the finished product as a selling tool and to promote their environmental efforts.

The CNC had a number of potentially interested partners and some concrete partners. Wegmans Food Markets did a tremendous job educating its workers about separating biodegradable items and keeping plastic contamination out. There are more biodegradables that still are not making it into the compost container, but with extra education, the deli, the coffee bar and the floral department can be brought in.

S & S Tree Service, Cascadilla Tree Service, and New York State Electric and Gas Co donated several sources of wood chips. These loads of wood chips were delivered when tree work was being done within a 4-mile radius of CNC. Distance (over 5 miles) prohibited the Village of Trumansburg, the Village of Cayuga Heights, Coastal Lumber and the Town of Ithaca from trucking their wood and yard waste to CNC.

There were 8 restaurants who very much wanted to separate and compost their food waste but the waste hauling company who contracted with these businesses was not willing to change the billing structure to charge by weight rather than volume. This would also have required weighing the containers which had not been done before. There is a new waste hauler in Ithaca who is willing to work of a different billing structure that would advocate food waste separation and as his business, Alternatives Waste Services, becomes bigger it may allow for these restaurants to participate in composting.

It is important that the compost site operator not the generator either does the collection of food waste or contracts with a waste hauler to transport food waste. At the CNC composting site, Wegmans contracts directly with the waste hauler which has created some problems. First, Wegmans now has 2 bills to pay, one to the waste hauler for container rental and hauling and 1 to the CNC for tipping fees rather than consolidating this billing into one. The waste hauler weighs the container before delivering it to CNC but it has been difficult to acquire the weight slips from the waste disposal company which is how tonnage is checked for billing. Currently load delivery schedule changes have to go through 4 people. This has been frustrating, inefficient and has led to some loads of food waste being delivered to CNC without any notification. Needless to say, this is not a good situation when residents live nearby and the compost site operator is not always on site. There could be more control of the composting site and scheduling of an equipment operator's time if CNC contracted directly with the waste hauler and had the authority to address problems as they arose.

Cayuga Nature Center's composting facility was particularly challenging to start up since we had so few of the requirements. There was almost no equipment on site with the exception of a small tractor. The site chosen is good but there are no developed roads to the windrow. The site is 6 miles from Ithaca and 5 miles from Trumansburg. This has made accumulation of enough free carbon waste unachievable so far. The grocery store is content with the proximity of the composting site and willingly pays for trucking their food waste since they still save money. Cayuga Nature Center did not have a market or a need established for the end product, so headway is being made in marketing and the economics from this will be available after the spring 2000 sale of compost. CNC does not grow crops which could benefit from compost-enhanced soils. And lastly, CNC had no established market for the sale of the finished compost.

The CNC participates in 2 levels of partnership. The first level is strictly local with local participants, the goal being to increase the amount of composting in the Tompkins County region. This involved education and interaction with members of the community to see who could benefit from becoming involved.

The second level of networking was facilitated by CWMI and provided opportunity for manufacturers of compost throughout the state to be connected. This was incredibly helpful as those involved could learn from each other's past experiences in composting technique, trouble-shooting problems, contamination problems, marketing and even some cooperative buying.

L5. Can these partnerships be effectively cultivated and managed by organizations such as the Cayuga Nature Center?

These partnerships can be managed by any organization such as the CNC as long as time and personnel have been allocated to the task. The criteria for managing partnerships such as this are:

§    The organization must have education and outreach as part of its current main functions .

It is important to have expertise in promotion and education in place. Good oral and written communication, and the ability to work with teams of participants are critical in all phases of the promotion of composting. When education is part of an organization's normal operations, the introduction of composting food waste will be like many other new ideas already presented to the public.

§    The organization needs to be in a related field, i.e. agriculture, waste disposal, soil conservation or water quality .

Appropriate organizations in this area include Cayuga Nature Center, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County, Soil and Water Conservation Service, Cornell Waste Management Institute or possibly Tompkins County Solid Waste Management Division. Using any of these organizations to promote partnerships would provide expertise in some aspect of composting be it using compost for improved growth of organic crops which Cooperative Extension would be familiar with or encouraging composting as a tool to protect our environment where CNC can provide expertise or Cornell Waste Management Institute which specializes in composting information and waste management issues.

§    It must have an initial list of potential partnership members with which it is already working.

It is time efficient to use an organization that already has connections with sectors of the business community that would benefit from being involved in composting. Cooperative Extension is well connected to the agricultural sector. Soil and Water Conservation is connected with existing composting operations and the agricultural community. CWMI has statewide lists of contact people who pass information on. CNC is interconnected with all these agencies. These connections are invaluable when initiating the promotion of a new practice since part of the communication groundwork in already in place through existing connections.

§    It must have a commitment to allocate personnel time to the project.

Organizations whose job it is to promote a practice such as composting are always involved in other projects as well. It is important for enough personnel time to be available for its promotion.

The Cayuga Nature Center is one organization, which can appropriately manage these partnerships, but other organizations in the region exist. The managing organization needs to have long running ties with the community to provide continuity once a network has been set up. Promoting increased composting is not a mainstream idea and the progress of encouraging people to become involved is often not swift. The organization needs to be able to commit to the project promotion for a long period of time so that after initial information is provided to the community there can be follow up information and a knowledgeable contact person who is accessible over a long period of time.

Another critical piece is an appropriate connection of the managing organization with the needs of the partnership. In this case, the managing organization needs to have knowledge of the subject of composting, an agricultural connection, business skills, and a good working relationship with members of the community.