Quick Update

Hello everyone! Today's blog is just a note that next week our blogging schedule will be slightly off, as we will be attending the U.S. Composting Council Conference!

School Districts Going Green With GreenRU & Chamness Technology

We're working to help some area schools to compost this semester, and we'd really love for all of you to know about it! Read about it here.

This semester is starting off a little more green for two Iowa school districts. Ottumwa Community Schools and Pella Community Schools have begun the semester by implementing GreenRU composting into their food services.

Both schools started the program at a couple of schools in the district. They are planning to expand so all schools in the district will be diverting their organics from the landfill.

“We’re getting used to it, it isn’t too hard,” said Cheryl Ferguson of Pella High School, as she sliced a pineapple and threw the stock and skin into a orange composting bucket at her feet.

Danny Renfrew, Director of Operations at Ottumwa Community Schools, has wanted to start a program like this for a while, so he is happy to finally have a company who can work with them.

“The kids who we’re doing this for, they’re the ones who inherit this planet.” said Renfrew.  He continued that he did not want to leave this planet a mess for the children at the school to clean up when they are adults.

Bob Brisendine, Head Custodian at Douma Elementary School in Ottumwa, has been teaching the children there to separate the waste themselves. The Douma cafeteria now has two big containers marked “Food Waste”. Brisendine is impressed with how quickly the children are picking up food recycling. That day’s waste had only one piece that did not belong in the food waste, which he separated before moving the food waste into the orange organics bin that now sits behind the school.

“It’s a little extra work, but it’s worth it,” Brisendine said.

Both school districts are excited to expand the program to all of their schools. GreenRU and Chamness Technology, Inc. are teaming up to provide this service free of charge to the schools this year.

Already both schools are seeing the huge impact it could have on their waste.  In the first couple weeks Pella Schools that started the program have diverted 180 pounds of organics from the landfill. Ottumwa Schools are still in their first week, but have already noticed the drastic difference.  

Our Work With Education

We're happy to work with people from all sectors, but recently we got a chance to visit a couple of schools who are currently working to implement GreenRU in their school Cafeterias. Today we just wanted to share with you this snapshot we got of one of the workers at Pella Community School District.

Reuse DIY

Today we're sharing a very helpful reuse DIYs that we found. This great article shares 50 new uses for old things. It's a great guide to finding brand new uses for thing that may be sitting around your house. Check it out here.

Our favorites from the article are:

Toilet Paper Hair Accessory holder

Matchbox as a mini sewing kit

Rubberbands to secure clothing on hangers

Old Mailing labels as return labels for books, movies, ect.

Old tissue boxes for plastic bags

There are a lot of other great ideas in there! Which are your favorites? Let us know in the comments.

Food Waste & Why Composting Helps

In America we waste 40% of our food. Food waste and other organics can be put to beneficial reuse through composting, but realizing the number is that huge is a wake up call. Check out this data:

Infographic from Sustainable America

Now, it's clear that as a nation we're over purchasing food, but a lot of this waste come from the industrial side of things, and often times their food is thrown out because of regulatory reasons. Going to the landfill means more methane emissions and that's bad news for our ozone layer!

Composting can help by taking these food scraps and other organics and helping the natural process of reuse- the products naturally break down and can be used to help soil to produce more food. This may seem like a simple idea and a natural route to take, but not everyone realizes it.

As a company that deals with organics from institutional settings, it's clear to us how large the impact is of just one hospital, school, university, grocery store, or restaurant switching and diverting their organics. It can equal to tons of material a year diverted from the landfill to beneficial reuse.

If you have questions or want to know more about what we do be sure to comment, but do you compost at home? Do you notice how much goes into the heap with just your family? Let us know!

GreenRU & Hy-Vee

We're not a big fan of bragging, so we'll let other people do it for us. We do some great work at two Hy-Vee locations, and that work was recently featured on the Iowa Grocery Industry Association newsletter!

Here's just a taste of the article:

"We started [diversion with GreenRU] because it was the right thing to do," says Max Dains, South Ottumwa Hy-Vee store director. "The departments have really gotten into it and are doing more than we asked of them. Everyone understands it's what should be done and what needs to be done."

Wow! Want to read more? You can! Check it out here.

So, what exactly does GreenRU do?

Our services are actually pretty easy to understand, however watching a video might be a little easier than reading an explanation. Check out the video below to understand how our process works!

Feel free to comment with any questions you may have! We're more than happy to help!

GreenRU: A short introduction

GreenRU is a "zero waste" recycler of organics and food scraps headquarted in Des Moines, Iowa and servicing the entire state. We offer complete recycling services and can provide cars and/or bins, training, signage, and a complete selection of compostable dinnerware, trash liners, and flatware. We're excited to be starting a blog to take about composting and everything related to it, whether it's tips for your garden or general sustainability information!