Welcome to the Compost Squad
The Compost Squad is a student-run team that collects food and green waste on campus and turns it into a rich soil supplement. Prior to Covid-19, The Compost Squad diverted 500lbs per week, currently during Cvoid-19 diverting around 40lbs per week. The student team is busy with year-round collections and production.
Current Events!
Keep up to date with all things WRRAP compost by looking at our blog!
Looking for some vegan recipes that can be composted? Check out the From Soil to Soil: Student Vegan Cookbook by Karina Vega!
Need help with your worm bin maintenance or drying out a wet bin? 2020 Compost Operator Jerry Swider has your back. Click here to watch the video!
Compost Facts
- Most efficient composting occurs with a carbon to nitrogen ratio of 30 to 1
- When food rots in a landfill, it produces methane, a gas with 21 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide.
- More than 20% of all methane emissions: human-related
- Cal Poly Humboldt's Earth Tub is designed specifically for on-site composting of food-waste.
- The Earth Tub is a fully enclosed composting vessel featuring power mixing, compost aeration, and biofiltration of all process air.
- The ET is capable of processing as little as 40lbs per day or as much as 100lbs per day
- Vermicomposting: composting with worms in an enclosed, convenient, low maintainence worm bin.
- Approximately 3,000 pounds of food waste was diverted from landfills and incinerators in the year of 2019 and 2022!
What can you compost on campus? Download the Guide:
What Do We Do?
The Compost Squad provides a compost pick-up serivce for on campus residents, inorder for students to be more sustinable in their dorms, so that they can compost their organic waste instead of throwing it away in the landfill. They also provide at least one Composting 101 workshop a semester to the whole of the Cal Poly Humboldt community. In the Fall 2020 semester, the Radburro E-Bike was incorporated as the mode of transportation for bucket collections. Once a week, the student Compost Co-Directors, empty out the collected food waste into our 3 cubic yard EARTH TUB!
Harvesting Compost
The Earth Tub can handle about 100 pounds of food waste and solid paper a day. After a period of 3 to 4 weeks, the organic waste is broken down to soil material . Then, the Compost Team harvests or extracts the humus-rich amendment from the decomposed food waste.
Free Compost for Students
Once a month, when all the compost is harvested from the Earth Tub. The team leaves out a 96-gallon toter of compost at the R.O.S.E near the Warren House 53 for the student community to take free organic fertilizer for their gardening purposes!
Meet the Squad
"Hello! My name is Hailey Ingemi and I am the compost co-director at WRRAP as well as a junior here at Humboldt. I am an Environmental Science and Management major with a concentration in environmental education interpretation. I have been gardening and spending time appreciating the natural world around me for as long as I can remember, learning sustainable practices made me feel like I was truly making a difference. Once I learned about WRRAP and their composting program I knew I wanted to be a part of this special organization. Connecting on campus with fellow students, all while educating them about more ways to be conscious and sustainable is something that sounds like a dream to me!"
"Hello! I am Daniel Chaidez and I am a co-director of the compost branch for WRRAP. I am currently a third year botany student. I have been involved in gardening almost my entire life and as such, have a deep appreciation for composing as a sustainable agricultural practice. I am a service centered person who has been involved with multiple groups on campus, most of which promote STEM and service to a community."
- Email us with the subject line "Compost Bucket Request" for more information
- If you would like a compost bucket for your dorm room contact the Residential Sustainability Advisor at rsa@humboldt.edu
- Need a place to dispose of your compost? You can use the compost bins around campus or follow the signs at the Cultural Center for Appropriate Technology (CCAT).
- If you would like a tour of the Earth Tub email wrrap@humboldt.edu
Contact: wrrap@humboldt.edu Social Media: 
