Food Waste for Composting

December 6, 2021

Dear Campus,

At Humboldt State University, we collect food waste for composting. This is an integral step in moving the campus toward zero waste and for removing valuable, nutrient rich material from our landfill stream. Composting helps HSU to minimize methane emissions (a potent greenhouse gas), saves the campus money, and helps us build robust and resilient local soils. Each year more HSU students, faculty and staff are properly sorting their food scraps and compostables into the right bins. Here's how you can join your peers:

Please take care to keep plastics, aluminum, glass, wax coated items and other materials that will not biodegrade OUT of compost bins. Food material is collected in bins labeled “Compost” which are separate from our recycling and landfill bins.  

Since fall semester 2021 started, we have seen an increase of non-compostable materials in our compost bins.

Items accepted in our compost stream include: banana peels, other fruit and veggie peels, bones, oils, fats, dairy, egg shells, leftover meat that you will not consume later, coffee grounds, napkins, molded fiber trays and containers (please make sure to put the plastic lids in the recycling stream as Recology accepts plastic lids #1-7), pizza boxes, paper or bamboo straws, wood stirrer sticks, food soiled papers (as long as they don't have plastic or wax coatings; anything with a 'shiny' chemical or wax appearance should not go in the compost), salt and pepper packets (make sure they do not have a waxy or plastic lining), and all other waste made of food. Please remove plastic stickers from fruits and veggies before composting them. 

Items not accepted in our compost stream include: aluminum foils, aluminum cans, glass beverage containers, stainless steel containers, plastic bags and plastic films of any kind, paper beverage containers (even if they say 'compostable' on them, most beverage containers have a PLA or chemical lining not good for our compost system), any bioplastic utensils, plastic or nitrile gloves, Styrofoam, condiment packets for ketchup/mustard/relish/mayonnaise, OZZI containers, checkered paper, plastic beverage lids, tetra pak containers (often used for beverages or milks, which have a cardboard base but are usually lined with plastics or foils), or any other non-organic/non-carbon/non-biodegradable materials. 

*Please note that it is more advantageous / less risky to sort items you are not sure about into the landfill stream rather than contaminate our compost system. WHEN IN DOUBT, LANDFILL IT. 

You can recognize compost bins on campus by different types that say “COMPOST” on them as follows: 

  1. First type: Black metal bins with round lids are placed throughout campus (find them in outdoor spaces near central hubs of campus). 
  2. Second type: At selected Residence Halls, users can find large green rolling bins that are located outside of buildings near other waste bins and dumpsters. 
  3. Third type: Round, five gallon buckets with screw-top lids are placed in selected indoor locations. (Request one to be provided and serviced from the Waste Reduction & Resource Awareness Program [WRRAP] by emailing wrrap@humboldt.edu.)
  4. Fourth type: In the Marketplace & Depot, users will find rectangular bins nested in larger containers with smaller holes in which to deposit material; these are placed right next to landfill and recycling options.  

Other notes about waste:

  • Styrofoam is landfill waste; it should never go in the recycling or compost streams.
  • Food soiled paper (including greasy pizza boxes) should be composted. 
  • OZZI containers should always be scraped/rinsed of food waste and returned to Dining for reuse (never thrown away into any waste stream).
  • Bioplastics (anything that visually appears to be plastic but has a label saying “Compostable”) are generally landfill waste in Humboldt County. These materials must usually be composted in high temperature, anaerobic digester systems, to which our campus and community does not have access. HSU sends most of our compost to a local worm farmer and the worms cannot adequately digest bioplastic (especially in large quantities).
  • Do not place food waste in plastic or bioplastic bags and then put bags in the compost stream. Instead, please remove all plastic packaging before placing food waste into the compost stream.  

Thank you for playing an active part in our campus compost system,

HSU Sustainability Office & Waste/Recycling Team

Here are additional resources to learn about waste sorting at HSU (all housed on this Waste Diversion Page):

Announcement Approvals: