Many people have taken up composting at home, but what about all of the organic (compostable) waste generated during your workday?  A composting program at your workplace can be a great addition to your waste reduction efforts. It is not hard to make composting (along with recycling) a part of the way you do business.  And if your company produces a significant amount of organic waste, including composting in your waste management strategy can provide financial benefits as well as “greening” your operations.

There are several ways that workplaces can participate in composting—the right choice for your workplace or business will depend on:

• the amount and type of organic waste generated
• the amount of space you have available for on-site composting (if you opt for that route)
• the amount of effort your workplace is willing to dedicate to maintaining the composting system
• the amount of money you are willing to spend on a composting system (and it does not have to be costly)
• annual fluctuations in your organic waste stream, if there are any. 

For businesses (such as offices) producing smaller volumes of compostable organics: Some choose to have vermicomposting bins in a kitchen or common area, while others use outdoor bins on the property.  Still others may not compost directly themselves, but may partner with other organizations that are interested in composting (e.g. community gardens).  Some organizations also offer composting services, through which you can have materials composted elsewhere through an organics pick-up or drop-off arrangement.  These services vary based on the area in which you are located.

Vermicomposting

• Vermicomposting allows for smaller volumes of organics to be composted in an easy and contained manner, and results in a very rich compost. 
• Worms eat up to their own body weight in food per day.
• Vermicomposting worms (Red Wrigglers) are vegetarians and enjoy eating fruit and vegetable scraps, peels and cores, as well as plain breads and pasta, coffee grounds, tea bags/leaves and egg shells.    
• Vermicompost bins do require some basic upkeep: worms have to be fed on a regular basis and have their habitat checked for moisture levels, and the castings have to be removed every so often. 
• A properly maintained bin will be relatively odour-free, as long as the worms are not overfed. 
• Vermicompost bins cannot usually handle as much waste as outdoor bins, so an indoor (vermi) system may not be able to take all of the workplace’s food waste. 
• If used in conjunction with an outdoor composting system, the extras can be taken outside, and additional material such as grass clippings, leaves and landscape trimmings can be incorporated in the outdoor bin.  Alternatively, people can be encouraged to take their extra organics home to compost in their own backyard systems.   

Outdoor Composting

• Outdoor composting at work will take some organization, especially if a larger volume of material is being handled. Outdoor compost bins require a somewhat more active level of upkeep than indoor bins.
• It is important to identify a source of "brown" (carbon-rich) materials (such as dried leaves) to supplement their "green" organics (moist, nitrogen-rich materials). Both types of materials are necessary for successful composting. 
• We recommend that an individual or team of people be identified to be responsible for adding the organics and brown materials and for managing the moisture levels and aeration of the bin(s).
• Outdoor composting can allow the whole workplace to be involved. 
• The finished compost can be used to beautify the grounds.  Time needed to produce finished compost will depend on the amount of material available and effort put into the process.
• For more technical information, please see the Composting page in our Household section.

Larger-Scale Composting

If your workplace is a larger business, commercial building or institution, the volume of organic materials generated may not be able to be accommodated through vermicomposting or a system of smaller bins. In that case, take a look at information available on larger-scale composting from Resource Conservation Manitoba, including a series of quick-read fact sheets on some of the major issues.

If a workplace is not prepared to undertake the task of composting on site, there are still options. 

• Try contacting a local community garden to see if they’d like to partner with you and compost your organics on their site. They might be more than willing to consider this, because finished compost is a great soil amendment that plants and gardeners love! 
• Or you might try finding a local composter who you could hire to pick-up your organics and compost them for you. This may be a useful option for businesses that have larger volumes of material and where on-site composting is impactical (such as a downtown restaurant or a large workplace with a cafeteria). 
• Some smaller workplaces find that employees who compost at home don’t mind bringing the collected organics from work home to their own bins. Again, this helps them produce more compost -- something that avid gardeners can't ever seem to get enough of.

Composting organics produced at your workplace is a great way for your company to demonstrate its commitment to the environment. 

Contact RCM's Compost Action Project for more ideas on how to make compost work at work!