KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Vols celebrated Homecoming with a win over Mississippi State on Saturday night. The staff of UTK's composting facility helped wrap up another win at Neyland Stadium by collecting 2,083 pounds of food waste Sunday morning.
Ella Dohrmann, the center's supervisor, said she and her staff expected that. They collect between 2,000 - 4,000 pounds of food waste per weekly football game. Overall, the program collects up to 20,000 lbs. per week — not including waste collected during football games.
Dohrmann and her team worked quickly, pulling out products, like aluminum foil, that aren't compostable from the light green trash cans they had set up around the stadium. They then collected the rest in their own garbage truck. More sorting was done at UTK's recycling center with the help of additional staff members.
Two staff and Dohrmann then took the sorted food waste to the center's composting site near UT Medical Center. Several rows of compost, many of which were about six feet tall and approximately 10 feet long, guided them to the open row currently being built.
"So, for our recipe as we call it, we use three parts carbon, we use woodchips for our carbon, to one part food waste," Dohrmann said.
She said the facility uses a technique called windrow composting. Food waste is mixed with woodchips, and then made into tall, long rows with a ridge line on top. That structure allows hot air to rise to the row's "ceiling," as "decomposer" insects feast on the pile.
That combination generates heat. The internal temperature of a maturing row can reach 160 degrees Fahrenheit, she said.
"The food waste we get is from campus. We make a post out of it. That compost goes back to campus and helps beautify the landscape and grows food with the UTIA (University of Tennessee Institute for Agriculture)," Dohrmann said.
While the facility's mission is to support the university through holistic waste management, Dohrmann and her staff aren't in a rush. A compost pile can take approximately seven or more months to mature, she said.
The site is also used for research about how well products degrade over time.