Jennifer,
We have about 700 students at our K-8 school. We have a small tumbler for our "Kinder Garden," but we built a 3 bin composter out of pallets in the main garden. Our kitchen staff gives us vegetable food scraps, and we compost a few hundred pounds every year.
If we were to go school-wide and capture all compostable material from breakfasts, lunches, and the kitchen, then I think we would need about 12 compost bins, and we would seriously need to consider using worms as well.
I would recommend not using hinges and latches if you build compost bins. Instead, design it so the gate lifts in and out.
Right now, our compost bins fertilize our garden and orchard, and it is a really cool process to show students.
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Ben Curtiss
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-31-2021 09:27:51 AM
From: Jennifer Massengill
Subject: Compost Bin Advice
Does anyone have advice about compost bins for a school-wide composting program? I have had two large tumblers in the past, but they filled up quickly and the metal parts (hinges, locks) rusted out. Our chefs would like to compost their vegetable waste, plus I'd like to teach our students what they can compost from their lunches. We had a program several years ago and the kids loved it, but everything got put on hold with Covid, the tumblers rusted, and now we are back at square one.
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Jennifer Massengill
Hampton Roads Academy
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