The Great Pumpkin Toss!

Compost Clubhouse successfully launched a new sustainable way to celebrate the Halloween season, a Pumpkin Toss. On November 6 and 7, Compost Clubhouse youth teams volunteered at 11 local schools encouraging their communities to divert Halloween jack-o-lanterns and uncarved pumpkins from the landfill. We positioned large “Gaylord” containers at schools throughout Central Ohio (see list below) and at the Grandview Municipal Food Waste drop-off site. The event was widely successful gathering 96,000 pounds of pumpkins. Rather than pay for the pumpkins to be composted through our traditional process, we donated the pumpkin waste to a cattle farmer in Cable, Ohio, where the pumpkins will be ground for feed. We learned that pumpkin is a natural de-wormer for animals and thus they were happy to participate!

Compost Clubhouse looks forward to having the Pumpkin Toss as an annual event.

Pumpkin Toss Participating Schools

• Barrington Elementary School, Columbus
• Columbus Academy, Gahanna
• Columbus School for Girls, Columbus
• Dublin Middle School, Dublin
• Gahanna High Point Elementary, Gahanna
• Grandview Larson Middle School, Columbus
• Grove City High School, Grove City
• Saint Andrew Catholic School, Columbus
• Taylor Road Elementary, Reynoldsburg
• The Wellington School, Columbus
• Worthington Kilburn High School, Columbus

With gratitude and our deepest appreciation, Compost Clubhouse would like to
acknowledge the Ohio EPA for their generous grant and all Pumpkin Toss
sponsors:

• Behal Sampson Dietz Architecture and Construction
• Columbus Blue Jackets
• Dooley & Co Team
• Grandview Insurance
• Ibel Agency
• IGS Energy
• Jeni’s
• Northstar Cafe
• Signature Dermatology
• Standley Law Group
• Third Sun Solar

Columbus Crew Scores!

Compost Clubhouse teams up with the Columbus Crew to install a food waste program in their Ohio Health Training Facility. Columbus Crew is committed to sustainability and to assist them in their new composting practice was youth volunteers, Stella Jolly and Hudson Barber. Jolly and Barber coached the Crew on items for composting and signage. The training facility dining room feeds 250 players, coaches, and associates every day. Compost Clubhouse aims to bring composting options to the Crew stadium in the future.

Back to School

After a long pause, November was the month that Compost Clubhouse began installing large containers into school kitchens and cafeterias. Many schools were set to begin this programming in April of 2020, however, those installations were delayed until now. In order to service these large receptacles, we bought a new 14ft truck with a lift gate, allowing us to grow and service schools across the city with both buckets and large bins. Yet another area where students are leading this food waste diversion in their schools and communities. The environmental stewards educate and identify non-compostable items for launch signage. It’s an exciting time and we’re grateful for these opportunities to teach students that food waste, just like a can or jar, can be recycled and SHOULD NOT go to the landfill. Small Change. Big Impact!