solid waste management

So you’ve got an old pumpkin to get rid of …

Pumpkins rotting in landfills produce methane, a climate change-causing greenhouse gas, and an especially scary one at that—it’s 20 times stronger than carbon dioxide.

So, if you don’t send your old pumpkin out in the trash, destined for burial in a landfill, what’s the best thing you can do with it?

We talked to three experts from CFAES for options. Spoiler alert: Sometimes (dun dun dun) they come back.

Continue reading So you’ve got an old pumpkin to get rid of … →

Try to bag those bags, eh?

Good advice in the tweet below from our friends with Ohio Sea Grant. Based on personal experience, it’s an easy habit to start—takes just a week or so of remembering to do it to become just a thing that you normally do.

What’s cool? This, both the science and the story

The award for the coolest Ohio State science story of 2019 recently went to a team of CFAES researchers—Xiaoying Zhao, Yael Vodovotz, and Katrina Cornish—who are developing a promising biodegradable alternative to the plastic that covers supermarket food.

Read about the award.

Read the story itself.

Our growing history with biosolids

That small corn patch you see in this photo, which is growing—indeed, thriving—in the middle of Ohio State’s Columbus campus, is part of a wider, sustainability-related project meant to show how biosolids—processed human waste from sewage—can be (and historically have been) used to help grow food. Get the full poop in our latest CFAES Story.

See 4 unique ways NE Ohio is composting

This year’s Composting in Ohio tour, set for Aug. 22 and co-sponsored by CFAES’ Ohio Composting and Manure Management Program (OCAMM), will feature four unique large-scale composting facilities located in Cleveland and Akron.

Tour-goers, organizers say, will get a close look at the sites’ operations and a chance to learn from experts.

Continue reading See 4 unique ways NE Ohio is composting →

An eco-friendly replacement for plastic?

From an Ohio State story yesterday about a study done by scientists from CFAES:

“New research … has shown that combining natural rubber with bioplastic in a novel way results in a much stronger replacement for plastic, one that is already capturing the interest of companies looking to shrink their environmental footprints.”

Read the story.

Compost operator course coming soon

CFAES’ 2019 Ohio Compost Operator Education Course, planned for anyone involved with commercial and large-scale composting, is coming soon, set for March 27–28 on CFAES’ Wooster campus. Some of the many topics to be covered: principles, biology, testing, marketing, and site design and management.

Registration is $275 for the first participant from an organization or company; $225 for each additional participant from the same organization or company; and includes materials, continental breakfast, and lunch.

For a list of all the topics, location and other details, and a registration form, download the flyer for the course.