Yesterday I took 40 gallons of zero waste golf worms in 5 plastic bins to a fundraiser for "the friends of the elephant seals". This group administers the elephant seal rookery along the coast highway north of Hearst Castle. The event was "Zero Waste" as nothing went to the landfill. The worms were there to consume all the food scraps, which they did with smiles on their faces.
This kind of outreach is how we can spread the word about how Dairy Creek Golf Course is working to improve the local and global environment through education, outreach and through zero waste practices. We're very pleased to announce that many of the attendees of the fundraiser were already aware of Dairy Creek's emerging zero waste park.
Even small acts are crucial complements to the big picture in our wholistic universe.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Friday, September 9, 2011
Now that's more like it
We had a meeting with all the department heads at Dairy Creek this week...topic? getting everybody to participate more fully on our zero waste initiative. Mostly, we just wanted to get the kitchen staff to ramp up seperating food wastes for composting. Mission accomplished...so far everyday since, about 25 lbs of excellent scraps.
I need to let them know that the worms would enjoy the coffee grounds and egg shells as well.
I'm just glad to see things coming together.
I need to let them know that the worms would enjoy the coffee grounds and egg shells as well.
I'm just glad to see things coming together.
Monday, September 5, 2011
ZerO Waste Golf is a team sport
Our zero waste demonstration park at Dairy Creek GC is really coming along. The vessel composters are both cooking, the worms are reproducing robustly, and the viewing platform around the compost tea brewer is almost completed. I was thinking about cutting some viewing windows in the composters so visitors can see what a compost pile looks like inside.
Right now, the biggest problem we have is getting the kitchen staff to be more consistant diverting kitchen scraps from the garbage so that we can compost them. Some days they do, and others they don't. We actually NEED the food waste because it really helps to accelerate the composting.
The composters generally hover around 140 degrees when we're composting grass clippings and wood chips. When we add food wastes to the mix, the temp jumps to 160 overnight and then stays there for a day or so. Just like any other living organisms, the microbes in the compost like something to eat and really reproduce quickly when the food wastes are added.
The worms need the food wastes to optimize their growth and health as well. I have several worm bin operations stashed around the county, and they each have their own food source. Although worms can be "trained" to eat almost anything, there is a big difference between those that eat mostly lettuce and those who eat a more diverse diet of vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, shredded paper or compost. The worms that eat lettuce reproduce more slowly and are generally smaller than those that eat "real food".
Zero Waste Golf is a new concept around here. Although most folks get the idea immediately, not that many are accustomed to taking action to do anything about it. Golfers are particularly difficult to train. They're only thinking "pure swing thoughts" and trying to leave the real world behind when they're on the course. That's where consistant actions, interesting demonstrations and educational outreach come into play. It's going to take time to change the world, and we're good with that.
But ZerO Waste is a team sport. The more of us that work together, the closer to zero waste we will get. Hopefully, the kitchen staff will get the message.
Right now, the biggest problem we have is getting the kitchen staff to be more consistant diverting kitchen scraps from the garbage so that we can compost them. Some days they do, and others they don't. We actually NEED the food waste because it really helps to accelerate the composting.
The composters generally hover around 140 degrees when we're composting grass clippings and wood chips. When we add food wastes to the mix, the temp jumps to 160 overnight and then stays there for a day or so. Just like any other living organisms, the microbes in the compost like something to eat and really reproduce quickly when the food wastes are added.
The worms need the food wastes to optimize their growth and health as well. I have several worm bin operations stashed around the county, and they each have their own food source. Although worms can be "trained" to eat almost anything, there is a big difference between those that eat mostly lettuce and those who eat a more diverse diet of vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, shredded paper or compost. The worms that eat lettuce reproduce more slowly and are generally smaller than those that eat "real food".
Zero Waste Golf is a new concept around here. Although most folks get the idea immediately, not that many are accustomed to taking action to do anything about it. Golfers are particularly difficult to train. They're only thinking "pure swing thoughts" and trying to leave the real world behind when they're on the course. That's where consistant actions, interesting demonstrations and educational outreach come into play. It's going to take time to change the world, and we're good with that.
But ZerO Waste is a team sport. The more of us that work together, the closer to zero waste we will get. Hopefully, the kitchen staff will get the message.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
ZerO Waste Golf is the message, and now it's our new name
I recently changed the name of this blog to "ZerO Waste Golf. The name change makes perfect sense...the posts that get the most readership all have zero waste in the headline.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Golf Course Food Wastes, An Excellent Opportunity for Environmental Leadership
The increasing amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere is generally blamed for global climate change. Most often, car emissions are held up as the example polluter of CO2. But after a brief research session, I found some interesting statistics that I'd like to share with you.
Autos: An average automobile releases 20 pounds of CO2 per gallon. Some research claims that the average car produces 6 tons of CO2 per year.
Airplanes: A commercial airliner flying non stop from Boston to Wichita releases approximately 1400 pounds of CO2. It's 1645 miles from Boston to Wichita, so that's just a little less than 1 pound of CO2per mile
Cows: An adult cow releases on average between 100 kg of methane per year. That equates to 2000 kg of CO2 per year, or 2 tons of CO2.
Landfilled Food Wastes: One ton of landfilled food wastes releases the equivalent of 6000 tons of CO2
WHAT? Yes it's true... Pound for pound, landfilled food wastes are the worst source for greenhouse gases of all.
Studies by Arizona State University have shown that one dry ton of food wastes that decay anaerobically in landfill releases approximately 300 cubic meters of methane gas into the atmosphere. Methane gas is recognized by USEPA as being 20 times more harmful to the atmosphere than CO2. 300 cubic meters of methane multiplied by 20 = 6000 cubic meters of CO2.
Diverting food waste from landfill must be elevated to the highest priority if the harmful effects of global warming are to be slowed.
Not everybody drives a car or flies an airplane. Coal power plants? who even knows where they are? But everybody (apologies to those who lack enough food to be included) eats everyday and throws their wasted food or scraps into the trash can. That is why Green Golfer Foundation feels so strongly that golf courses should spread the word and lead by example by composting food wastes. Simply put, landfilled food wastes are the major source of greenhouse pollutants, period.
Food waste composting is regulated in most states, so there are, most likely, some regulations to learn and to follow, usually based upon the amount of wastes being composted, where the wastes come from and where they're going to be used. At Dairy Creek GC, we use vessel composters that are certified for food waste composting, and we also use worm bins to digest food wastes into vermicompost.
A few communities have a municipal composting operation that accepts food wastes, so it is possible to divert food wastes from the landfill in that manner. Our community does not have such a facility, so we do our own composting. We want the compost, and the vermicompost, anyway, because we use it to make compost tea with which we reduce our fertilizer and pesticide use and costs.
Oh, by the way, in case you were counting on golf course trees to absorb all the CO2 produced on site...A single adult tree absorbs approximately 48 pounds of CO2 per year. Now, calculate your food waste and then figure out how many trees you need to plant in the rough.
Autos: An average automobile releases 20 pounds of CO2 per gallon. Some research claims that the average car produces 6 tons of CO2 per year.
Airplanes: A commercial airliner flying non stop from Boston to Wichita releases approximately 1400 pounds of CO2. It's 1645 miles from Boston to Wichita, so that's just a little less than 1 pound of CO2per mile
Cows: An adult cow releases on average between 100 kg of methane per year. That equates to 2000 kg of CO2 per year, or 2 tons of CO2.
Coal Fired Power Plant: One ton of coal burned in the average power plant releases approximately 2.5 tons of CO2.
Landfilled Food Wastes: One ton of landfilled food wastes releases the equivalent of 6000 tons of CO2
WHAT? Yes it's true... Pound for pound, landfilled food wastes are the worst source for greenhouse gases of all.
Studies by Arizona State University have shown that one dry ton of food wastes that decay anaerobically in landfill releases approximately 300 cubic meters of methane gas into the atmosphere. Methane gas is recognized by USEPA as being 20 times more harmful to the atmosphere than CO2. 300 cubic meters of methane multiplied by 20 = 6000 cubic meters of CO2.
Diverting food waste from landfill must be elevated to the highest priority if the harmful effects of global warming are to be slowed.
Not everybody drives a car or flies an airplane. Coal power plants? who even knows where they are? But everybody (apologies to those who lack enough food to be included) eats everyday and throws their wasted food or scraps into the trash can. That is why Green Golfer Foundation feels so strongly that golf courses should spread the word and lead by example by composting food wastes. Simply put, landfilled food wastes are the major source of greenhouse pollutants, period.
Food waste composting is regulated in most states, so there are, most likely, some regulations to learn and to follow, usually based upon the amount of wastes being composted, where the wastes come from and where they're going to be used. At Dairy Creek GC, we use vessel composters that are certified for food waste composting, and we also use worm bins to digest food wastes into vermicompost.
A few communities have a municipal composting operation that accepts food wastes, so it is possible to divert food wastes from the landfill in that manner. Our community does not have such a facility, so we do our own composting. We want the compost, and the vermicompost, anyway, because we use it to make compost tea with which we reduce our fertilizer and pesticide use and costs.
Oh, by the way, in case you were counting on golf course trees to absorb all the CO2 produced on site...A single adult tree absorbs approximately 48 pounds of CO2 per year. Now, calculate your food waste and then figure out how many trees you need to plant in the rough.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Zero waste golf - could it be any easier?
I am an opportunist. I take it the easy way when easy is available. I wasn't always a zero waste golf advocate, I used to be an all purpose zero waste advocate. My associates and I have designed zero waste protocols for numbers of venues and events. I once pitched the potential for a zero waste stadium to the Philladelphia Phillies. "Too hard" they responded. And they were probably right.
Once I saw how golf courses work, I knew that zero waste golf was a lot easier to accomplish than zero waste at a major sports stadium. Then I started zeroing in on zero waste golf. As compared to other sports venues, golf courses have a very small waste stream, and one that is predictable and easily managed. What better place to practice (or demonstrate) zero waste than one in which it's so easy?
"Zero waste" is a very powerful environmental mantra. Indeed, it is surely the most powerful two words we can use in any eco-conversation. Zero waste trumps all other environmental slogans. Zero waste rules!
I like the idea of golf courses being environmental leaders in the communities that they serve. I'm sick of hearing how golf courses are such bad eco-citizens, what with their excessive water usage, or their over applications of pesticides, bla, bla, bla. You know what I mean. I like it when golf courses take the environmental fight to their opponents with the most powerful environmental strategy that has ever been devised.
But as an opportunist, what I really like is that zero waste golf is so stinking easy. It's so great to slay the environmental competition without even breaking a sweat. And then, when the other sports facilities try to copy zero waste golf's success, it's going to be so much harder for them.
Once I saw how golf courses work, I knew that zero waste golf was a lot easier to accomplish than zero waste at a major sports stadium. Then I started zeroing in on zero waste golf. As compared to other sports venues, golf courses have a very small waste stream, and one that is predictable and easily managed. What better place to practice (or demonstrate) zero waste than one in which it's so easy?
"Zero waste" is a very powerful environmental mantra. Indeed, it is surely the most powerful two words we can use in any eco-conversation. Zero waste trumps all other environmental slogans. Zero waste rules!
I like the idea of golf courses being environmental leaders in the communities that they serve. I'm sick of hearing how golf courses are such bad eco-citizens, what with their excessive water usage, or their over applications of pesticides, bla, bla, bla. You know what I mean. I like it when golf courses take the environmental fight to their opponents with the most powerful environmental strategy that has ever been devised.
But as an opportunist, what I really like is that zero waste golf is so stinking easy. It's so great to slay the environmental competition without even breaking a sweat. And then, when the other sports facilities try to copy zero waste golf's success, it's going to be so much harder for them.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Composting fundamentals are essential to zero waste golf
The heart of an effective zero waste golf program is composting, espcially when food wastes are added to the compost. Composting can be easy and complicated all at the same time. The following link opens to a very good resource for information regarding composting, vermiculture, compost tea and other related topics.
If I had more time, I'd write more about the topic, but I'd rather get back to reading the link.
http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/compost/index.htm
If I had more time, I'd write more about the topic, but I'd rather get back to reading the link.
http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/compost/index.htm
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