Meet Chester the Biodigester - Campus Composting Tour

Are you ready to celebrate International Compost Awareness Week with the Sustainability Team? Composting, the magic of turning food waste into a superfood for plants, shouldn’t be underestimated. It's one of best ways to make a meaningful impact in mitigating the effects of climate change, reducing our waste to landfill and supporting healthy environments. 

It's so important the University’s Sustainability Strategy includes a target to compost 80% of our food and organic waste by 2025. So how can you take action and get involved with composting on campus and beyond? This composting tour is designed to bring transparency to the process of turning food and organics waste into garden gold, empowering you to be part of the movement to become a more sustainable campus. 

Starting at the front of Fisher Café on Eastern Avenue, we'll take on the persona of a humble banana peel to uncover the composting process. After being discarded in a green food waste bin, you get picked up by an electric trailer and transported down to Chester, our onsite organics Biodigester. After being hand sorted, you move through Chester's belly for 10-14 days, transforming into nutrient-rich compost. Finally you're sprinkled onto garden beds to help grow new organic matter, which will find its way back down to Chester eventually. A moment of circularity on campus! 

As we navigate through the composting on campus process, we'll debunk some assumptions and myths about composting, equipping you with all the right information to be a composting champion! We'll cover:

• How and where you can compost on campus
• What you can and can't compost on campus 
• Why "compostable" packaging is not allowed to be composted (confusing, we know!)
• Meet and learn about Chester, our 2500 kilogram Biodigester that can break down up to 500 kilograms of waste every day

Important notes:

• Arrive at 9:55am for 10am start
• Meeting point: Fisher Cafe, Eastern Avenue, Camperdown Campus. Use Campus Maps to find your way. 
• Ending point: Community Garden, Maze Crescent, Darlington Campus
• This is an in-person event only at Camperdown/Darlington Campus
• This is an outdoor event, please wear appropriate weather protection including sunscreen, hat, sunglasses, umbrella etc. In the case of extreme weather (rain or heat), the event may be postponed. Participants will be notified via email.
• Lots of walking is involved, please wear comfortable clothing and shoes 

By working together as a University community, we can make our campuses more sustainable. Stay informed on new opportunities to get involved by joining our mailing list and following our social media.