Too Good to Waste: Composting in Our Community

On the western side of Prince William County, an elementary school student pauses to empty their milk carton and sort the extra milk and container into two of three bins. Which bin do they put which item into? This isn’t a riddle or a math problem. This is behavioral learning used to promote a sustainable environment.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Nancy Berlin, Virginia Cooperative Extension Natural Resource Specialist from Prince William County’s Master Gardeners, one of four “roots” to a new composting project. The Extension Office teamed up with Freestate Farms, the Prince William County Public School staff, and the Solid Waste Division to show how a small container of milk can make a pivotal difference in reducing landfill waste and turning rot into growth.

The Solid Waste Division planted the seed for this project after being awarded a grant from USDA. They contacted Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) Master Gardener Volunteers and the Prince William County School Sustainability Office to teach cafeteria workers, teachers, and staff about food waste composting. The school’s sustainability office helped design posters and purchase the different bins for landfill, compost, and recycling. Now, each of the six schools in this pilot program has colorful diagrams directing students, staff, and visitors on how to sort their lunchtime leftovers.

For anyone interested in learning more about composting and recycling, Prince William Public Libraries (PWPL) provides books, resources, and programs. Gale Health and Wellness, available on our Digital Library, provides academic journals, magazines, and additional resources about composting, food waste, and more. Searching “sustainability” on Kanopy, a movie streaming service, produces more than 250 results including the documentary “Living the Change: Inspiring Stories for a Sustainable Future.” 

PWPL is also offering upcoming programs, Garden Talks: Pollinator Gardens on May 7 and 14 and Sweet Surprises in the Garden on May 21. Learn more at pwcva.gov/library.

For the Master Gardens and the Sustainability office’s project, “there was a lot of preliminary work,” Berlin said, “[For] each item, we had to find out what it was made of, what kinds of chemicals were involved, and whether it was appropriate for composting, [and] out what kind of poundage we were dealing with! We took that information and put it into training PowerPoints for the teachers and staff about what can be composted, what can’t be composted, and how the process is different from backyard composting.” A fourth option was created to reduce waste: the share table. Unopened packaged food and fruit go on the table. “Anybody can take something: teachers, staff, students. It’s there to be used instead of being thrown away!”

After this careful sorting, the fourth member of this squad comes in: Freestate Farm. They coordinate with a contractor to pick up the compost, hand-pick any missorted plastic stowaways off a conveyor belt, and feed the compost to their digesters to make soil. This soil can be used in the school’s flower and vegetable gardens and, sometimes, in the very farms making food for the cafeteria, bringing this composting full circle.

“Landfills take up a tremendous amount of land and energy to maintain, and this reduces the amount of material,” said Berlin. “Ultimately, it changes behaviors for future generations. They see this done in the schools and they think, “Okay, this isn’t so hard. I can do this.’”

Berlin had several suggestions on how we can decrease the county’s environmental impact from home: you can start your own home composting or worm composting bin or consider what kind of packaging is used for the items you buy. It isn’t just about what we’re throwing out, but what we’re putting into the ground; VCE has free tutorials on many gardening topics at “VCE Prince William YouTube.” Freestate Farm did a “Composting in the Community” program at Haymarket Gainesville Library in April and our library might have more in store in the future. 

If you want to learn more about this the school's compost program, Jeanne Jabara, with the Prince William County Schools Sustainability Office, pointed to the county’s instructional video “PWCS Compost Pilot Program” from PWC’s Energy Management Team on YouTube. You can also take a virtual tour of Freestate Farm’s facilities through their website.

PWPL is also committed to other sustainability efforts as well. PWPL was the first – and is still the only – library system in Virginia with the Virginia Environmental Excellence Program (VEEP) certification. VEEP encourages and assists facilities and organizations that have strong environmental records to go above and beyond their legal requirements. PWPL is also committed to Prince William County’s Smarter Chemical Program, a strong pollution prevention program that ensures only safe and effective products are used at our sites, and waste is eliminated.

Through the efforts of PWPL, local agencies, and schools, this pilot project and programs like it teach everyone in the community how to sort food waste for a more sustainable future. No matter your age, you can help pitch in too.

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Written by: 

Heather Miller, Page, Haymarket Gainesville Library

Rachel Johnson, Communications and Marketing Director, Prince William Public Libraries