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The Sustainable Biomaterials Collaborative (SBC) is a network of organizations working together to spur the introduction and use of biomaterials that are sustainable from cradle to cradle.
Promote Sustainable Plastics
USDA Whitten Cafeteria Composting Pilot
Where: Washington, DC
When: Fall 2005 (3 months, 56 operating days)
Summary
The USDA Whitten Cafeteria Composting Pilot is part of the USDA affirmative biobased procurement model required by the 2002 Farm Bill. The model includes the Federal Biobased Products Preferred Procurement Program (FB4P)( www.usda.gov/procurement/business/biopreferred.htm) a biobased product promotion program and an annual program review. The purpose of the pilot project was to determine how to overcome challenges for and optimize federal facility cafeteria acquisition and use of biobased foodservice-ware and food composting. It also served as a live demonstration of biobased product use and composting. The project was an interagency collaboration between the Department of Agriculture's Departmental Administration, the ARS/BARC, the EPA and the Cooperative State Research Education, and Extension Service.
The project team conducted the pilot in the Jamie L. Whitten Federal Building Cafeteria, and the pilot served 33,426 patrons during the three-month time period. For the most part, participants accepted the change from typical Styrofoam and plasticware to a wide variety of biobased products. Patrons placed used items in special containers lined with biodegradable bags. On a daily basis, the BARC personnel collected the discarded biobased products and cafeteria food scraps, and delivered them to the USDA/ARS BARC composting facility in Beltsville, Maryland. The total composting effort included:
- 11,370 pounds of compostable cafeteria materials, (10, 945 pounds of kitchen trimmings and 435 pounds of biobased products); and,
- 168 cubic yards of leaves and grass.
BARC personnel used the finished compost in the Whitten Building gardens in 2006. The project partners concluded that the pilot was an overall success because many biobased products were used and found acceptable. In addition, this was the first time that a federal agency in the Nation's capital successfully implemented a project of this nature.
More pilot project details are available in Food and Biobased Cafeteriaware Composting for Federal Facilities in WDC.
Contact Person
Patricia D. Millner, Research Microbiologist
USDA, Agricultural Research Service
10300 Baltimore Ave., Bldg. 001, Rm 122
Beltsville, MD 20705-2350
Phone: 301-504-5631 x449
Fax: 301-504-8370
Pat.Millner@ars.usda.gov
