Compostable or not?
(Yes?/No?/Sometimes?)
(Yes?/No?/Sometimes?)
Fruit / Vegetables
Yes!
Most common type of individual composting, typically used in gardens
Aerobic Composting
Home Cooking
Cleanliness, smell, taking out the trash less
Locations where you can compost at BU
Anywhere you see a green bin! GSU, CCDS, and BUA all have composting bins.
Meat / Bones
Type of industrial composting used at CERO
Windrow Composting
Environmental
Diverting food waste from landfill helps to cut methane emissions, which is 28x better at trapping heat in the atmosphere
Dining Halls at BU that compost
All of them!
Paper Cups
No, they are often coated in Wax making it difficult to break down
Composting that breaks down food without oxygen
Anerobic Composting
Agricultural Benefits
Compost is sent out from organizations like CERO to farmers and landscapers to help in growing plants
BU Composting partner
CERO, a Boston worker owned Co-Op collects and processes BU's food waste
Coffee Grounds and Filters
Maybe, the cellulose in paper can degrade but the chlorine in some and synthetic fibers in others cannot
Composting that uses worms
Vermicomposting
Educational
By educating the public on the processes and benefits to composting, people become more cognisant of where their food comes from and goes, and learn of the science and social components that make that happen.
Future plans for Composting at BU
Residential Composting, with multiple dropoff locations across campus
"Compostable" Plastics
While the plastics you use to eat with can be compostable, there are different levels of certification that different facilities can process. The Standard to measure this is called a BPI verification
Composting that uses fermentation
Bokashi Composting
Water Management
Nutrient dense soil made from compost along can not only help to direct floodwater, but can better absorb pollutants that could runoff into wetland ecosystems
How our dining halls track food waste
LeanPath, using computer vision and a scale, we can accurately track the amount and what type of food waste is being generated