Raincoast

Over the past term, there has been great progress on the proposal for a new UBC farm compost facility. Most importantly, the UBC Sustainability Committee has become very interested in this proposal as an attractive option for reaching zero-waste targets by 2015. Support from UBC Sustainability is integral for this project to move forward, so I am thrilled that it is now on the table to be considered for funding.

Recently, the majority of work done on this proposal was to determine if a facility like this could be a cost-effective method of organic waste management. The answer is: it could be.

Like any business, there is an economy of scale to the business of composting. For a coffee shop, the cost of selling one coffee is roughly equal to the sale of one hundred (not including the beans of course); employees, rent, supplies etc.. are still paid regardless of sales. Similarly, the economic sustainability of this compost facility depends on the volume of material moved through the system. Operating at capacity, it is possible that composting on the far, would cost no more than having the organic material sent to an existing facility in Richmond. However, this means that tipping fees and volume of materials received must remain constant, and that all materials accepted would have a tipping fee associated with them. For example, at present only UBC food waste and animal bedding from the UBC animal care facilities carry a tipping fee. Approximately 300 tonnes of UBC yard waste, (valued at $12,000) would not be charged a fee for disposal at the farm, but is needed to blend with food waste in order for complete decomposition.

An official budget and investigation into all possible sources of revenue still needs to be conducted, but it is already apparent that a farm-compost facility has the potential to be economically sustainable. Always more work to do!

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