Newsletter 
Spring 2017 

O2Compost Systems on College Campuses

St. John's University, Queens Campus, New York

In July 2011, we had the good fortune to begin working with Mr. Tom Goldsmith, the Director of Environmental & Energy Conservation at St. John's University in New York City. Tom is a visionary with boundless and infectious enthusiasm. At his "Hobby-Job", he has been developing a campus-wide food waste recovery program that utilizes a student operated O₂Compost system.

Tom manages a group of Student Sustainability Coordinators who take an active role in teaching the student body about waste reduction, collection, and utilization. The compost that they generate with their aerated 3-bin system is utilized in the campus organic garden, as well as on turf and in landscape areas throughout the campus. By doing so, they have converted a waste problem into a resource opportunity, and they demonstrate on a daily basis the ethic of sustainability.

Please take 10 minutes out of your day to watch this video and to be inspired by the St. John's Sustainability Youth Movement.

Through Tom's leadership, the students at St. John's have been and will continue to be inspired to make a difference in their corner of New York City and the world we all live in.  

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Hesston College, Hesston, Kansas

Last year, O₂Compost donated a Micro-Bin Compost System to Hesston College to help jump-start a student sustainability project. Environmental Services Manager, Randy Toews, facilitated the project and student volunteers built the bins. The plan is to have an E-Bio class working with it. Food scraps mixed with other carbon sources (napkins, leaves, wood chips and paper plates from picnic events) are composted in the bins. Although the bins filled more quickly than expected, the material is easily rotated back and forth as the composting process makes more room. Randy reports that the temperatures have been easy to maintain between 130 and 145 degrees.

Client Post to WA Horse Talk Forum

Patrick H. from Sammamish, Washington, recently shared the following post he made on the WA Horse Talk Forum Facebook page:

Let's talk manure! Sharing my success.

When I built my ranch, everyone had a pretty negative comment about manure. 'You're going to get lot's of it and what you need to do to get rid of it.' I built my barn with Barn Pros and they happened to have a unit with O₂Compost hardware that composts in a method called static air flow. That means a blower kicks on every 20 minutes for 1 minute and pushes the heat in the pile to compost faster. You never have to turn the pile. No maintenance is the goal.

Well, I bought into the sales pitch and purchased the unit. We brought our horses home on December 1 and filled the first bin by the middle of January and the 2nd bin on March 4th (2 horses). The first bin composted in 30 days and has been curing for 2 weeks and look at the results!!! You can actually see the reduction in mass because of the composting. ZERO smells, clean, and you don't know where the manure is because it is hidden in this unit.

I've got all the pasture and garden fertilizer I could ever need which is awesome. Neighbors are lined up for it.

Client Feedback From Selbyville, Delaware

Email from Elizabeth (Liz) F.:

Good news! The organic farmer we’ve been working with here in Delaware was approved to use our composted manure on his certified organic crops. We were able to show that we were maintaining the temperature standards shown below. 

Just one question… Do you have any idea how to determine our initial Carbon to Nitrogen ratio (C:N)? I know that we adjusted the amount of straw and hay we add to the bin while we fill it up to make sure we get things cooking when we turn the blower on. But we’re just using intuition as to how much to add based on experience with previous bins and have had really good results.

Do you have any thoughts about how to calculate the beginning C:N or make our methods quantifiable in case we’re asked this by other clients?

Reply from Peter Moon:

Liz -

That is very good news.  Congratulations on meeting Delaware’s stringent organic standards!

With regard to the C:N of your initial mix, you are doing exactly the right thing to rely on your experience.  However, if you ever do need to document it, you'll have to send a sample to a soils laboratory for testing.  The cost is not great and they should be able to provide the lab results within a week’s time. 

If the need arises, I suggest using a laboratory that is certified by the US Composting Council's "Seal of Testing Assurance" (STA) Program. To learn more, visit:  http://compostingcouncil.org/seal-of-testing-assurance/.

Client Feedback from Oregon City, Oregon

From Erin B.:

I purchased a Micro-Bin unit from you several years ago. Last time I contacted you I was ready to give up on the system, I was unable to get my temps higher than 100 degrees. You offered to come to my home the next time you were in Oregon to help me troubleshoot ... I can't remember any company that offered customer service like that!

I wanted to give this one more try before giving up completely, so I had my husband construct new lids for my bins, completely waterproof (corrugated plastic, not a tarp like the previous ones we made). I just finished my second batch of successful manure-only compost (NO bedding, just a bit of scrap hay). I was able to get the temps to 130 for two weeks, over 110 for a month!!!! I think there was too much water leaking in with the old lids. I also made sure there was lots of shavings and leaves covering the pipes on the bottom of the bin. I am looking forward to using my black gold in my garden this summer. This system is as easy as you promised.

Thank you so much for all your help and for designing a great home composting system.

Q&A

Question:  What is the difference between the O₂Compost Micro-Bin System and one of the many plastic bins that I see on Amazon.com or at Costco and Home Depot?

Answer:  For small volumes of garden waste, the simple, non-aerated bins can work quite well, provided that you have ample time for the materials to break down. This approach also assumes that weed seeds and plant pathogens in the finished compost aren't a concern. These types of bins can be purchased online or at many big-box outlets for a relatively low price.

However, for larger volumes of material, an aerated compost system makes more sense. While there is a higher cost to getting set up, faster turn-around and high quality finished compost will make a Micro-Bin System a worthwhile investment.

For discussion purposes, I've prepared the following comparison table:

If You Own an O₂Compost System ...

... we would love to hear from you. Please remember that the Compost Training Program you purchased includes unlimited technical support.

• If you have questions or concerns, we have answers and can provide troubleshooting services at no additional cost.
  
  
• If you purchased a farm with an O₂Compost System and you don't know how to operate it, please contact us and we will help you get your system up and running, at no additional cost.
  
  
• If you have a story that you'd like to tell prospective composters, we'd be happy to include it in future Newsletters.

New Compost Systems Come On-Line

	OWNER:   Danni G. LOCATION:  Ridgeway, SC "I just don't know why every horse owner does not use this system" More information on our website.
	OWNER:   Callie R. LOCATION:  Stayton, OR Three horse on fine wood shavings bedding. More information on our website.
	OWNER:   Krista T. LOCATION:  Oregon City, OR "I needed an easy way to handle that much manure." More information on our website.
	OWNER:   Francisco N. LOCATION:  Mexico "We have reduced our precomposting period from 8 to 4 weeks." More information on our website.