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In-vessel composting at Stowford Primary School

Resource Futures' Composting in Schools Project supports a school to divert 2½ tonnes of food waste from landfill in one year.

Overview

Stowford is a 342 pupil primary school in the Devon town of Ivybridge.  Through its involvement in Resource Futures' Composting in Schools Project, funded by Devon County Council, it now composts all its cooked and uncooked food waste on site, approximately 60kg per week.

Composting equipment 

Key Stage 2 pupils conducted a waste audit with Resource Futures' Waste Education team to find out how much food waste the school was producing. Based upon the audit results, Resource Futures recommended that the school use one Ridan composter (pictured left) and three Scotty’s hotboxes to store their compost for maturation. Devon County Council funded the purchase of this equipment; Resource Futures ordered it and oversaw its installation, as well as providing training and ongoing support for key staff in its use.

Educating pupils and teachers

Dawn Neil (Resource Futures' Composting in Schools Officer) spent a day in the school delivering a whole-school assembly and class workshops to educate staff and children about the new composting equipment and inspire them to compost at school and at home.

Results

The school is now composting all its food waste using the Ridan composter including fruit waste, vegetable peelings and cooked food leftovers from the dining hall. This amounts to 10-12kg of food waste a day; up to 60kg a week. The Ridan maintains a temperature of between 50-55 degrees Celsius.

Wayne Hack (pictured right), the Site Manager who operates the Ridan composter, said “I am amazed at how well the Ridan works, how easy it is to use and how quickly it composts. As a result we now only have one bin collected every week instead of two and we have plenty of rich compost for the garden. The whole project has been a great success. Thank you goes to Dawn and Dan for the total support given."

Community involvement

The impact of the project extends beyond the school. School newsletters for parents have included articles about the composting project and its environmental benefits. Teachers and school governors from other schools in the area have visited the school to see their composting system in action and have been inspired by what they have seen. The school has also developed a link with the local community by sourcing their dry woodchip to add to the mix from their local parks department in the area free of charge.

For more information about the Composting in Schools Project click here.

Project Synopses

Food waste collections from Bristol schools

Between 2007 and 2009 Resource Futures worked with Bristol City Council and their contractor to pilot the collection of food waste and cardboard from schools for in-vessel composting, and to roll collections out to most schools in the city. 

In-vessel composting at Stowford Primary School

Resource Futures' Composting in Schools Project supports a school to divert 2½ tonnes of food waste from landfill in one year.

South West region comes together to tackle food waste

In autumn 2009, the South West Waste and Recycling Forum (SWWRF) and Resource Futures worked with all the 35 local authorities (LAs) across the South West to deliver a collaborative campaign on food waste reduction, which was conceived by the forum the previous year.

News and Events

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In 2011, householders, traders and paint manufacturers donated 343,957 litres of paint to Community RePaint schemes, which then distributed 217,112 litres to community groups and individuals saving 565 tonnes of CO2 – the equivalent of taking 192 cars off our roads - and providing 766 volunteer and training opportunities. The network now has over 65 schemes across the UK with four new schemes about to start at the beginning of 2012.    

Resource Futures helps WRAP understand recent reductions in food waste

Resource Futures has recently helped WRAP to estimate how much household food waste has decreased nationally in recent years, with the recently published “Synthesis of Food Waste Compositional Data 2010” To see the report, click here.