Share thisEmory University and Greenco Environmental have partnered to compost animal bedding as part of a larger program aiming for sustainable waste reduction.
The partnership with Emory’s Division of Animal Resources (DAR) and Greenco Environmental, located near Barnesville, Georgia, has diverted 136,820 pounds or 68.41 tons of animal bedding from Georgia landfills from November 2009 through April 2010. In addition to waste reduction, the DAR has realized a savings of 46% or a total since inception in November 2009 of $6,480 or $1,080 per month.
The majority of animal bedding from DAR operations contains no infectious or chemical contamination. Compostable waste is hauled in 30 and 12 cubic yard self contained waste receptacles to the Greenco facility where it is weighed and off loaded to a concrete holding bay. Waste products are evaluated to ensure that there are no unsuitable materials present such as glass, plastics, or metals. The wood and food products are combined to obtain the correct balance of carbon and nitrogen, pulverized, and transferred to the compost beds or windrows. The composting process takes approximately 90-days during which time the beds are regularly turned to ensure consistent composting. Temperatures are measured six times per week as windrows must maintain at least 131 degrees Fahrenheit to destroy pathogenic organisms. At the end of the 90-day period the product is screened and stored for shipment to customers composed primarily of commercial landscape companies. Currently, Emory is purchasing compost from the Greenco facility to provide a rich soil amendment to annual planting projects in the spring and fall. Further, this product will be utilized in capital projects for landscape installations through Emory’s contracted landscaping vendors.
Composting of animal bedding and food is imperative to reaching the goals for waste minimization set forth in the strategic vision for Emory and communicated and supported by Emory Recycles and the Office of Sustainability Initiatives. These goals include an overall reduction and diversion of the total waste stream of 65%; 100% electronic waste diversion, and 95% animal bedding and food diversion by 2015.
To get a closer look at this innovative program, ALN asked Dr. Michael J. Huerkamp, Professor in the School of Medicine (SOM) and Director of the Division of Animal Resources (DAR) some questions about its beginnings, development, and operation.
MJH: The DAR is pleased to have partnered with Facilities Management (FM) and the Environmental Health and Safety Office (EHSO) to embark upon this composting development that is not only fully aligned with Emory’s sustainability vision, but also provides significant operational savings. Credit also must be given to the Dean’s Office of the SOM and the Office of the Vice President for Research Administration as this initiative also would not have been possible without their encouragement and support. The diversion of roughly 22 tons of animal bedding per month saves not only landfill space, but also is projected to reduce the waste disposal costs of the university by about $12,000 per year. Additionally, animal-related, non hazardous biological wastes are also being diverted to composting. These materials historically have been incinerated off-site and at an annual cost in the ballpark of $70,000. From this aspect, Emory will not only have acted as responsible environmental stewards, since less reliance on incineration will have an energy conservation and carbon footprint reducing feature, but any of the savings realized will be passed on directly to our scientists. Direct cost savings for our scientists facilitates the generation of more knowledge per research buck and greater progress toward the prevention, treatment, and cure of diseases that are so important to us, our families and our community.My greatest satisfaction in all of this, however, comes from doing it the “Emory Way” where three teams functioned effortlessly and cohesively to bring it about and, until now with a news story, so uneventfully.