Composting

In May, led by CCE graduate student Zahra Shivji, the Graduate Student Council's Sustainability Committee worked with LA Compost to build a three-bin, continuous feed composting system. The system primarily serves the 450+ graduate students that live in campus housing but is open to the entire campus community. The bins are located at the South Wall of Catalina Houses Community Garden (next to South Wilson Parking Garage). As materials decompose, they are moved from bin to bin until the compost is fully matured, a process that usually takes 3-6 months. A group of 12 volunteers rotate the piles monthly. Finished compost is used in the Catalina Houses Community Garden.

How to use the bins: Discard food scraps in the "in-bin". Make sure to remove produce stickers first! Cover food scraps with the provided mulch. Adding mulch helps maintain the correct nutrient balance to encourage microbial decomposition and reduce pests and odors. We recommend freezing your food scraps before dropping them off. This prevents the scraps from attracting pests and keeps the area clean. Freezing also initiates the degradation process by breaking down the plant cell walls. See a list of accepted materials below.

To register to use the bin, fill out the online form (accessible with your Caltech email). If interested in volunteering for bin maintenance or if you have any additional questions, email compost@caltech.edu.

Undergraduate students host waited dinners throughout the week within their respective houses where all of the organic food waste is composted. Head waiters are tasked with bringing discarded food to the compost bins behind Browne Dining Hall. From there, the waste is sent to an industrial compost facility.

Green Labs has installed 8 Lomi tabletop composters throughout BBE which turn food scraps into a compost product that Caltech uses across the campus grounds!

Learn more about the program that has diverted 1402 kg (3091 lbs) of food waste from landfills here.

Tucked behind Browne Dining Hall are compost bins that capture the majority of food waste from campus food service. Additional collections take place at Broad Cafe, Avery House, and the student kitchens.

At The Athenaeum, staff collect and dispose of all front-of-house leftover food and back-of-house food scraps in a bin that is serviced weekly. All organic food waste gets industrially composted.