Luther College increases its composting capability thanks to the installation of a food pulper

Luther College has received a $20,000 forgivable loan from the Iowa DNR in order to install a pulper in the college's cafeteria dish room. The installation of the WasteXpress System over winter break in Luther College's cafeteria has greatly increased the amount of food waste being composted.

The pulper replaced the previous garbage disposal in the dish room.  It works to capture and process all food waste from consumer plates as well as food preparation. The food scraps are scraped directly into the pulper, where the moisture is removed from them and the material is pulverized into bits that are capable of breaking down faster in a compost pile.

"Diverting food waste from the landfill is an important part of our sustainability efforts," says Maren Beard, assistant director of Luther's Center for Sustainable Communities. "When food waste breaks down in a landfill it produces methane gas which is 23 times more potent of a greenhouse gas than the carbon dioxide emitted through the composting process."