In the nonprofit world, “paying it forward” is a way of life. But the Great Falls Community Food Bank has found a creative way to give back to those that are so generous to them as well as help the environment.
With the assistance of Mike Dalton at Sunburst Unlimited, a local sustainability group, the Food Bank recently built seven compost bins to dispose of an estimated 40,000 pounds of green waste each year. Utilizing a unique cold compost method, unusable produce and bakery goods and are mixed with a compost accelerant called bokashi and wigglers to generate rich compost within 90-120 days; far shorter than typical hot composting processes.
Once the compost is ready, it will be made available to community gardens and others who donate their harvest to the Food Bank. It is estimated that the 40,000 pounds of waste will produce 20 cubic yards of compost each year at a cost of about $6 per cubic yard to process.
“This is a winning situation for everyone”, said Gayle Gifford, Executive Director of the Great Falls Community Food Bank. “Composting helps reduce our waste removal costs, reduces the amount of waste we contribute to landfill, and helps area gardeners that support hunger relief efforts in our community.”
Since this is the first composting project currently being done by a food bank in Montana, the Great Falls Community Food Bank is hoping to provide a model for other emergency food services around the state. So far, more than 3,000 pounds has been added to the compost bins and the first soil is expected to be ready by the end of September. The system is set up to provide for continuous rotation of waste-to-compost – as the last bin is full, the first bin is ready to distribute to gardeners. Exactly how much will actually be produced will be better known in six to nine months time.
For more information on the cold compost process being utilized, contact Sunburst Unlimited at (406)868-2359 or the Great Falls Community Food Bank at (406)452-9029.