Waldorf News

Growing for Good Compost Program Is Expanding

By Mary Christenson

Pleasant Ridge Waldorf School, in Viroqua, Wisconsin, two hours west of Madison. While the school is geographically rural, we are rich in community. Three years ago we decided to build a social and economic enterprise that could generate wealth that we produced – income beyond tuition and philanthropy – and where we could explore Rudolf Steiner’s thoughts about threefold society and associative economics. We want to work with these ideals in a practical sense to sustain our community. We purchased a local greenhouse business near the school in our city of 4,300 population and manage a number of projects within it, including the student gardens. We named our business Growing for Good.

One of our successes is our composting program which we launched last year. Viroqua has no municipal compost collection, like in some cities. Participants in our year-long pilot curbside food waste collection project are now receiving a share of the beautiful compost that was created out of their food scraps! This is the most direct way to thank all who supported our early efforts last year as Growing for Good Compost collected buckets full of food waste from a handful of households, the Kickapoo Café, and the Kickapoo Coffee roastery in Viroqua. Its success demonstrated that it is worth taking the next step to expand the business to dramatically reduce the amount of organic waste that goes into the Vernon County landfill.

During this second phase we will increase the number of households and businesses that participate, widen community awareness of the problems of burying organic food scraps in landfills, and offer an opportunity to be part of the solution. The main objectives are:

• Engage the public at individual and organizational levels throughout the county through education, outreach, and marketing campaigns, which are key elements in building the compost culture that we envision for Vernon County.
• Expand the logistical infrastructure that will allow us to divert larger amounts of organic waste from the landfill. We will start with Viroqua, La Farge, and Viola, and move the compost processing to Deep Rooted, a local farm in Westby.
• Plan phase three to expand food waste collection in new areas and ideally create a composting facility where we can develop new products for sale.

One might wonder why we wanted to take on this project. A core aim of Waldorf education is to renew culture by educating students to be problem-solvers, clear thinkers, and capable individuals who can bring innovation and new energy to the world. We believe the role of teachers and parents is to model this behavior and commitment by providing guidance and opportunities to youth to move into a productive role in society.

A social enterprise such as Growing for Good offers a platform for entrepreneurial activities and learning. The compost program is an example of responding to a societal problem at a community scale, one that is approachable for elementary-age children to understand. There are economic, environmental, and social dimensions to the project that together provide a holistic approach to understanding a system. Such holism is congruent with Waldorf education’s approach to teaching.

On the economic side, food waste is a resource that could be generating prosperity—creating revenue by producing compost and soil mixes—but because it is usually landfilled its regenerative qualities are wasted. Additionally, organic waste takes 20 to 30 years to degrade in landfills, compared to less than a year in compost windrows. Reducing the volume of food waste in the landfill expands the landfill’s lifespan as well as reduces the amount of leachate sent to wastewater treatment plants. Composting this food waste could provide a big financial saving for the county. Furthermore, it is a sustainable business model that can scale up easily and create new jobs.

From an environmental standpoint the project will create broad awareness of environmental reasons to take the final step of the food cycle, which returns nutrients to the land, reduces methane gas, builds healthy soil to stem soil erosion, and cares for water quality. It will increase citizens’ commitment to protect the very resources that bring people to this county.

Lastly, this project enhances community and provides a social benefit. There is no better way to bond with your community than the feeling of doing something meaningful and good for the community and the environment. Vernon County is an inspiration to Wisconsin as a place of natural beauty, outdoor activities, sustainable agriculture, and innovation in business while keeping a strong community focus. Its food and food culture also draw people to the area. This project will show that Pleasant Ridge Waldorf School is one of the leaders in working toward a shared future built on sustainable practices.

Visiting the website, growingforgood.org, to read about other projects at Growing for Good

Learn more about how Waldorf education is thriving in the Driftless Region of Southwest Wisconsin at pleasantridgewaldorf.org.

Dan Chotzen, lifelong Waldorf parent and supporter and enthusiastic composter!