Setup:

Put up large laminated instructional posters above and behind collection station explaining cafeteria recycling process. At beginning of year, explain procedures over intercom to all students and in cafeteria. Explain reason for cafeteria recycling and outcomes.

Daily Procedures in Cafeteria:

Assign 2-3 students to Cafeteria Waste Station. Make sure students don’t spill or throw food, or leave trays on table Clean up spills as soon as possible to avoid people from slipping on floor

Make sure students don’t run in cafeteria or bump into each other

Encourage students to drink all of their liquids to avoid waste and wasting extra time emptying containers.

Encourage students to group waste (condiment containers, milk cartons, cardboard containers, food separated).

Encourage students to bring two trays at a time (one tray dumped on the other, but separated).

While volunteers are working at the cafeteria recycling station, offer them tips for scholarships, resumes, careers, networking with mentors.

Discourage outside food that is brought into the cafeteria.

Make sure students return gloves, wash hands with hot soapy water afterwards.

Make sure students don’t leave cafeteria with trays.

Since we won't be able to collect food waste and it will litter the campus and create more work for custodians.

Stack trays in 3 piles neatly on top of refusable trash bins to conserve space.

Daily Closing Procedures in Cafeteria:

After all food, liquid, refusable, tray waste has been collected, remove all plastic bags from the 5 gallon buckets and 35 gallon trash bins. Put all the refusable trash and trays on one of the manual push carts and have any detention students take them to the dumpsters after they wipe the cafeteria tables.

Put the trash bags full of food on the electric or manual cart and transport them to the compost bins.

Use the strainer to sift out any large particles in the liquid 5 gallon buckets. Empty the liquid in a cafeteria kitchen drain and rinse out buckets.

Have students remove gloves and wash hands.

You may want to weigh and record the trash collected and create a graph.

Thank volunteers for helping and encourage them to record their service hours.

Make sure volunteers sign up for various sustainability and citizenship scholarships, help them with the paperwork.

Setup compost bins made from free used wooden pallets from a hardware improvement store to house cafeteria waste, shredded paper and mulch.

Daily Compost Procedures by compost bins:

Some staff members may want to take some of the plastic bags containing food waste to their feed pigs.

Empty he food waste into the compost bins on top of mulch layer.

Throw empty plastic bags in dumpsters.

Apply shredded paper on top of food about 3 inches thick. Collect shredded paper from office or classroom shredders.

Cover the shredded paper with at least 3” of mulch using 1 or 2 pitchforks.

It will take about 5 months for the food waste to turn into organic compost.

Turn the compost pile over every month to distribute the food waste evenly otherwise the food waste will be compacted on the bottom and it will be in an anerobic environment.

After 5 months of composting:

Bring 2 sifters and a wheelbarrow to collect organic soil.

Wear Gloves. Put food waste on top of sifters and push the waste through the metal grid to allow small particles of soil go through the sifters.

Collect sifted soil in empty 5 gallon buckets from wheelbarrow

and use in garden or sell to public for $1 or $2 a pound

Collect lettuce, rice and bread roll waste and put in on the bottom layer of the worm farm and cover it with vermicast and the burlap bag.

Make sure the worm farm isn’t too wet or too dry. The excess moisture should drain properly.

Make sure there is no runoff in drains.

Make sure the worms have the right amount of food.

Freeze excess food and let it thaw before feeding the worms.

Reduced cleanup time for custodians.

Reducing cost of excessive dumpsters and landfill dumping fees.

Retail value of organic compost, worm vermicast, worm tea, worms.

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Even though we are based in Hawai'i, our projects can be done anywhere in the world.