Tucson Schools partner with U. of Arizona for compost pilot

Manzo Elementary School in the Tucson USD has a strong ecology program, including a school garden and the keeping of live chickens and fish. Photo: Tucson Unified School District

Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) will start a pilot this spring to compost produce scraps from it's school meal program as a way to deal with the waste from increased servings of fruits and vegetables. TUSD operates 86 school sites and serves some 40,000 meals a day.

The pilot, slated for launch at the district central kitchen and six school sites, would have kitchen produce scraps—melon rinds, carrot stems, bell pepper tops, cucumber peels, orange peels, etc.—picked up by a waste disposal company and transported to the University of Arizona (UA) where a group called Compost Cats would turn it into compost to be used by local farms and gardens.

The program was inspired by an existing compost program at the district’s Manzo Elementary School, where children grow produce they sell at a farmers market and either compost their scraps or feed them to chickens kept at the site.

The time was right for some way to deal with the growing amount of produce waste in an efficient and sustainable manner, says TUSD Foodservice Director Shirley Sokol.

“Due to an approximate 30 percent increase in offering fresh produce over the past few years, our standard kitchen waste receptacles are becoming too heavy for the custodians to move and the bags are ripping,” she explains. “In a pinch, to do something to solve the operation concern, our staff started filing their empty produce boxes with produce scraps and taking them to the Dumpster. I thought there must be a better way to solve this problem and a better use of the scraps.”

One option, it turns out, was to utilize an existing relationship with UA, which had already partnered with several district schools, including Manzo Elementary, on focused activities in the areas of gardening and agriculture.

“We had already discussed different composting/education options with the University of Arizona Compost Cats and I thought that would be a perfect start,” Sokol says. “The Compost Cats will train our kitchen staff and eventually we would like to develop a program where the university students designated as Compost Cats could teach our students about composting.”

The university shares up to 100 students with TUSD over a school year, Sokol says. “As part of their community engagement, they work with our students and help to support our campus gardens.”  

TUSD students focused on the program have an opportunity to earn scholarships to bridge them into a similar program at UA.

Students at Tucson USD’s Manzo Elementary School compost vegetable scraps from their school garden as part of a strong ecology program at the school. Photo: Tucson Unified School District

“We designed the program as a full circle, in hopes that our students will work through the pipeline, continue to the advanced program at the U of A and then return to our campus as an intern to work with our students, and perhaps, one day, become a Tucson Unified School District teacher,” Sokol notes.

Discussions regarding the compost pilot program started several months ago. ”We reviewed why, where, when and how we might be able to implement the design into our large system,” she says, adding that various district staff identified sites that would benefit the most from the program, assess the logistics and the estimated cost.

To get things started, Diggins, the district’s waste removal company, agreed to drop off a waste receptacle at the central kitchen the week of Feb. 8 so the volume of produce scraps generated over a week could be measured.

“Our initial plan is to test the central kitchen volume for a month,” Sokol explains. “This will give us a better idea of how often we would need pick up. We had initially discussed a pickup two times a week, using two waste receptacles; however, that may be cost-prohibitive. If we can work out the cost, then we will expand to six high volume schools by the start of April. We will review the pilot through May and determine if we can increase the number of school sites for the start of next school year.”

As currently formulated, plans for the pilot would include staff training from Compost Cats, Diggins providing one to two waste bins specifically marked and used for compost and then a once or twice a week pickup depending on volume. Diggins would then dispose of the produce scraps at designated Compost Cats sites, which in turn provide compost to the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona as well as area farms.

The six school sites chosen for the compost pilot are some of the larger ones in the district, while the central kitchen does the processing for TUSD’s extensive Fresh Fruit & Vegetable program.  

“All of our school kitchens have a reasonable to very large produce prep volume,” Sokol explains. “I am looking down the road at potentially 20 to 25 school sites for this program—if we can afford it.”

One option she says the district is exploring is sponsorships through grant opportunities to get the program up and running as well as to sustain it over time. “Even partial support would be a huge help as our budget is very tight in school foodservice,” she says.

Contact Mike Buzalka at [email protected].