Colorado State University
OP-T2-7: Pre-Consumer Food Waste Composting

Pre-consumer food waste is collected at the other dining centers and the bake shop. Housing & Dining Services in 2011 invested in a state of the art, fully-automated composting system called the Earth Flow. This enclosed, 30‐yard capacity compost bin is located on the CSU Foothills Campus (three miles west of main campus). Pre-and post-consumer food waste from CSU Dining Centers is composted in the Earth Flow. The Earth Flow accepts 2,000 pounds of material per day. Organic waste is loaded into one end of the vessel by placing the collection container on an automated tipper. Every time food waste is added, bulking material like straw, wood chips, and horse manure from the equine center is added at a 1:2 ratio. Material is composted for about four to six weeks inside the vessel. Finished compost is discharged through an end door of the vessel. The compost is piled on site to cure for at Least 3-4 weeks before being used in landscaping projects on campus such as Braiden Hall and The Durrell Center renovations. Over 30 yards of compost were used on these projects as a soil amendment. In 2012, the CSU Earth Flow Composter diverted 95,505 pounds of pure food waste from the landfill. In the first two months of 2013, CSU composted almost 27,000 pounds of material. Housing & Dining Service’s new partnership with the city diverted an additional 30,000 pounds from the landfill in the same time period.