YCOMP Sharon, MA
recycling + youth education
ycomp.weebly.com

We are a group of two juniors at Sharon High School in Sharon, MA are thrilled to be selected as one of the Top 10 finalists for a Green America Green Grant.  Our organization, YCOMP, OR Youth Composting Organization for Massachusetts' Populace, aims to promote composting and its many benefits. Composting provides many advantages; when composting is used instead of a trash collection system for organic waste, it extends current landfill longevity, therefore delaying the construction of a more expensive replacement landfill or incinerator. It reduces both the carbon dioxide emissions produced from the incineration of waste and the methane produced when organic materials decay in landfills; methane is 23 times worse than carbon dioxide emissions into the environment. When the finished product is used for agricultural purposes, the compost keeps plants healthy by controlling weeds, providing a slow release of nutrients, and preventing soil loss through erosion. Compost has a good balance of nutrients, and therefore reduces the need for commercial fertilizer which is fossil fuel based as well as water, pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides. The benefits of an organization such as ours includes the promotion of town-wide bonding of residents of all ages towards a common cause, the prevention of pollution in local and nearby communities, the education of all generations (especially youth) about composting, waste disposal, recycling, and environmental issues, the change in cultural attitudes towards garbage, and the increased awareness in schools about environmental sciences.

Our goal is to promote and encourage composting and composting education on local and state levels by offering low-cost (potentially subsidized) compost bins for consumers (for individuals or towns) through both the FAC61 MA state contract and by working directly with manufacturers.

Moreover, we would like to organize educational programs and promote state-composting resources. We would like to expand Massachusetts Departments of Environmental Protection's and the Green Team's efforts on an inter-town basis, individual school basis, encourage small businesses to use home-composting bins, and work with colleges, universities, and other organizations and institutions. We are primarily promoting "on-site" or “home-composting” to those unfamiliar with it in the first place, by providing them educational opportunities and allowing the purchase of these bins on an individual basis through FAC61. We would also like to encourage schools to start pilot composting programs by experimenting with home-composting bins, and if enough enthusiasm is garnered at a school, they could explore their own options for on-site, large composting containers or coordinating compost pick-up to an off-site location. The implementation of compost bins in all public schools in Sharon is underway and we hope to have formalized compost programs in place for fall 2011-2012 school year. We would just like to provide resources for individual residents who are not informed about composting by their town. In terms of a curbside collection process, we ultimately want to use funds from grants or charge people a fee to participate in a pilot program which would be designed to look similar to that of Canada, where organic material is collected for composting at a commercial composting facility. However, as mentioned before, the majority of composting done at public buildings will be on-site, unlike the pilot programs. These pilot programs will take into account the need to locate a registered commercial composting facility and setting up a collection program. The initial fee will be used to cover the collection fee cost and tipping fee. Moreover, in terms of the management differences between on-site and off-site composting, our educational programs will be used to address questions or concerns people may have as well as ensure that the compost is being managed. As far as schools are concerned, we would like to create an educational network and work with schools’ Green Teams (or work to establish Green team representatives at each school) to ensure proper management of composting.

The Mass DEP grant program offers two types of compost bins: the Earth Machine and the New Age Composter. Both are easy to assemble, rodent-resistant and allow for efficient aerobic composting. They are made from a minimum of 50 percent post-consumer recycled plastic collected or processed in Massachusetts. An average household can compost between 500 and 1,000 pounds of organic material each year in one of these bins, producing a rich soil supplement out of material that would otherwise be thrown away. Bins retail for between $60 and $100, but are available to residents of communities that receive grants at subsidized prices of between $25 and $35 each.

If given this grant, we would first use it for both Massachusetts and Federal legal filing, website creation, and other initial costs needed to formalize a non-profit. After this, the grant would be used to purchase demonstration materials and produce education materials. The bulk of the money would be used to deferring the cost of compost bins for consumers.

At the end of the day, we want to make a different in attitudes towards composting, first with home bins, then with education programs, then pilot programs, and finally the town-wide pickup.  Through the distribution of bins, we aim to tackle waste misconceptions, change the core mindset preventing people from composting more, and spread both awareness and the practice of composting in all manners in towns, schools, and throughout the state.

Contents of a compost bin during maturation.

A "New Age" compost bin..

Transfer of organic material from a countertop bin into the new age composter.