And The Composting Finally Started!

Today, the actual composting process finally started, we started to separate the compostable waste from the non-compostable waste in The Schoolhouse. We started to do that already even though the brick-made compost piles aren’t built yet, to get everyone familiarised with the composting process and to get things going smoothly. When starting something like this, it is highly likely that during the first day or two there will be some non-compostable material thrown into the bins, that’s almost inevitable – you can’t expect people to get it right in a minute. That’s why it’s good to start separating the waste beforehand, so that when the brick-bins are finished, everyone has already learned how to separate the waste correctly and thus it’s more probable that the pile will be filled with only compostable material - which is crucial in order to it to compost. Okay, I admit, this means that the actual actual "composting process" in theory hasn't started yet because nothing is composting yet at The Roadhouse, but I still would say that today is the day when composting started in our company.

Earlier this week we went with Randhir and Tang Liang to Sihui market area in Beijing to buy the compost bins. The market was probably the biggest market area I’ve ever been with huge areas packed with people selling everything, mostly stuff for hotels and restaurants. It was a nice – but exhausting – place. Anyway, we wanted to buy black middle-sized bins, so that we would have a sort of colour-code for compost bins. After searching for a while we found good bins and bought ten of those – four for The Schoolhouse, five for Roadhouse and one for Xiaolumian. We also made one small bin a compost bin and placed it to cashier in The Schoolhouse. So no we have altogether 11 compost bins collecting compostable waste. Finally! I made a following signs which we taped to each bin to guide people what to throw there and what to not throw there. Many thanks to Michelle for translating!

COMPOST BIN
FOR:
VEGETABLE & FRUIT WASTE AND PEELS
FOOD SCRAPS (NON-MEAT, NON-DAIRY)
EGG SHELLS, NUT SHELLS
BREAD, RICE, NOODLES
PAPER NAPKINS, NEWSPAPER
TEA BAGS
COFFEE GROUNDS, FILTERS
WOOD CHIPS, WOOD ASH
LEAVES, FLOWES, GARDEN WASTE

NO GLASS, NO PLASTIC, NO METAL, NO CARTONS, NO CLOTHES, NO CIGARETTE BUTTS, NO MEAT, NO BONES, NO DAIRY!!!

混 合 肥 料 箱

请 放 在 这 里:
蔬菜和水果残渣，果皮
食物残渣 （不包括肉类或奶制品）
鸡蛋壳和坚果壳
面包，米饭和面条
餐巾纸和报纸
茶包
咖啡渣和咖啡过滤纸
木屑和碳灰
树叶，花, 园林残渣

不 包 括:

玻璃，塑料，金属，硬纸箱，衣服，烟蒂，肉类，骨头，奶制品 !!!

Obviously, the text in the acutal signs is bigger and centralized, thus easier to read and notice. The English as well as the Chinese signs are the size of A4, so each bins has two A4 sized signs taped in the front.

Yesterday morning we told the staff about the separating of waste and composting we are going to do and everybody actually seemed rather interested. Today, when we finally got the bins out with the signs, the staff gladly read the text and they genuinely seemed to be interested – at least no one seemed indifferent. I went around many times today to see what people had thrown to the bins and I was surprised how correct things there seemed to be. And of course I told people that they were doing really well separating the waste! I really appreciate that people are rather serious about this. One thing, however, was thrown there that shouldn’t have, fish and some chicken, but that was my fault as in the list there is only meat and dairy mentioned, not fish or chicken etc. I told that no fish or chicken to the bins, basically nothing from animals, and I seemed to get the message through. Let’s see again tomorrow. This is how it works – little by little we teach everyone to separate the “right” from the “wrong”. Luckily for the project, everyone at least seems to be on the page and willing to help to make this composting thing a success. The compost bin in the couryard (mostly for customers) got filled with bottles and stuff, so there should be added extra signs on the wall on top of the bin. We want to keep one compost bin next to the restaurant entrance to show people what we are doing - surely it's worth letting customers know that we are trying our best to be environmentally friendly.

Tomorrow morning we finally go with Li Haixin and our constructer to The Roadhouse to explain where and how to built the compost piles. I haven’t made any drawings or visual plans, hopefully we still can get him to build the piles the right way. Maybe I should have made nice drawings, but I’m really not good at that and probably would just confuse everyone. Well, anyway, hopefully tomorrow will be a success, today certainly was. I’ll keep you updated.

Enjoy the beginning of summer!