Composting in Higher Education in Iowa

As an early adopter of composting in the Midwest, we've had the pleasure of working with many higher education institutions. We think that this work provides many opportunities for both the schools and the students who experience the composting process. Here are the lessons we love about composting in Higher Education

Composting is Easy
It's a common misconception that composting is hard, that it's time consuming, that it won't work because of these reasons. One thing we love about implementing our program is that students and dining management learn just how easy composting can be. It's simply adding another bin to the mix, and many colleges find that most of their waste can go in the compost bin, especially in cafeterias.

Composting Makes a Difference
Before implementing a composting process, it's often hard to visualize just how much waste shouldn't be going to a landfill. Often times there are students working in these dining halls who see, next to management, just how much of an impact composting can have on the waste stream. Seeing the pure volume of the organic waste will open their eyes to the benefits of composting, especially if they know the consequences of landfilling organics.

Everyone Should Be Doing It
Higher Education is one segment that is the most excited about not only pre-consumer waste, but also post-consumer. They bring it to the students as a learning experience and it will change how the students handle their waste, whether they realize it or not.

Do you want composting in your campus dining hall? Contacting your Dining Services Director and encourage them to contact us, we'd be happy to help!

Our Favorite Gardening Pins

We love garden planning, but we especially love the ability to stow away great ideas year round with Pinterest. We've been pinning for a little while now an have a fair amount of pins, especially on our "Love Your Garden" board. Here is a list of our favorites so far!

See this Pin Here

Everyone needs a little gardening inspiration every now and then. With this post we hoped to inspire every gardener to keep it up!

See this Pin Here

This pin went over how to save your fresh herbs for later use. It's great for preparing for winter time, when fresh grown is so much harder to accomplish.

See this Pin Here

We're a fan of all types of gardens, so is it any surprise that we loved this vertical garden, conveniently located next to the stove?

See this Pin Here

This pin was a fun idea during the warmer months. To be honest, we were surprised how quickly this pin got popular! It is a great how-to to bring beautiful butterflies into your garden!

See this Pin Here

We love the idea of getting your children involved in the gardening process. While that may not be happening until the spring, this Biosphere is a great way to get them excited for it!

See this Pin Here

While this may not look like much, it's actually a guide to a winter to spring bulb project, which is a great way to stay inspired during the cold months.

See this Pin Here

This pin was back during peak apple season. We love it's helpful hints for all of your apple eating!

See this Pin Here

This guide is great for buying local, but also if you're trying to grow these fruits and need to know when the peak seasons are!

See this Pin Here

These lovely flowers are gorgeous year round, however we were especially fond of them during the holiday season because they look like candy canes!

These are our favorite of our pins, do you have any favorite gardening pins? Which of these are your favorites? Let us know in the comments!

Featured Upcycling DIY

With Valentines closing it, now is rush time for gifts! If you want to make a homemade gift there isn't anything better than an upcycled gift. The one we picked to feature just requires a Vinyl Record and some cooking supplies, but the gift will definitely be one of a kind, a Vinyl Record Bowl!

Thrift shops are full of old vinyls, so stop by any and pick out a record with a significant title or, if you get lucky, with a song that is important to you. It's a great way to make a very personal gift without having to spend a ton of money. The finished project is a bowl that can be used for whatever the recipient wishes! Different sized records make different sized bowls, so take that into account when making yours!

Check out the DIY here! Happy gift making!

U.S. Composting Council Round-Up

Well, as we said in our last post, we spend last week in Orlando, Florida for the U.S. Composting Council Conference. We heard all sorts of interesting things from all areas of the industry and it was a great experience to learn more about everyone working with composting!

Maybe you didn't go to the conference, but there have been a lot of interesting articles that were published leading up to and following it, by complete coincidence. Have you read anything interesting about composting last week or this week? Share the link in the comments! We'd love to read what you thought was interesting!

We read this article about composting to provide fertilizer for rooftop gardens and we were definitely interested! Check it out: http://earth911.com/news/2013/02/04/nyc-rooftop-compost/

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!

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!