Knox College
IN-48: Innovation B

<p dir="ltr"><span>In 2022, six Knox students and a faculty mentor conducted an 8-week collaborative research project that examined the viability of community scale composting at the Knox Farm, the results of which were presented at the 2022 conference on Growing Sustainable Communities in Dubuque, IA.&nbsp; The collaborative research established a more permanent infrastructure to maintain ongoing composting operations at the Farm, including a food scrap drop off, which is then blended into a three-bin aerated static pile (ASP) system.&nbsp; Finished compost is then returned to the Knox Farm as a soil amendment.&nbsp; Importantly, the community composting program entails collaborative relationships across campus and educational outreach beyond campus.&nbsp; The Knox Farm, which is administered by the Office of Sustainability, coordinates with the Knox Grounds Crew to receive all of the raked leaves from campus to serve as carbon sources for the decomposition (previously Knox College subcontracted with yard waste management companies to have the leaves hauled off campus). The Knox Farm organizes regular community workshops (Spring, Summer, and Fall) that are open to the campus community and the Galesburg residents, which typically have between 20-35 participants.&nbsp; These workshops focus on the basics of aerobic, thermophilic composting, how to design different residential composting systems, the relative pros and cons of typical systems (e.g. wooden bins vs plastic tumblers, passive vs more active management, etc), and how the food scrap drop-off program works in relation to the community scale composting system on site.&nbsp; People are invited to sign up for the Program and then receive training on how the drop off works and how to avoid contamination with their food scraps.&nbsp; Currently, we have 45 participants who have applied to be part of the program.&nbsp; In 2023, the Program processed 105 gallons of food scraps.&nbsp; Additionally, two senior research projects focused on composting used the ASP system.&nbsp; As a consequence of these endeavors, we are now members of the Illinois Food Scrap and Composting Coalition and the ILSR Community Composter Coalition.</span></p>
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<p>The attached document is an exasmple of student research with the ASP composting system set up at the Knox farm.</p>