UNIVERSITY OF SUNSHINE COAST: Leading the Way in the War on Waste

The University’s OSCA composting machine transforms organic waste into nutrient-rich compost for the campus gardens. OSCA can process the following:

• All food scraps
• The compostable plates, cups and cutlery sold at campus food outlets
• Paper hand towels
• Cardboard

The University of Sunshine Coast’s OSCA composting machine transforms organic waste into nutrient-rich compost for the campus gardens. At capacity, 50 tonnes of organic waste a year can be processed by OSCA. This represents a reduction of 60 tonnes of CO₂ entering the Earth’s atmosphere every year at Sippy Downs. One wheelie bin full of compostable waste takes two weeks to be processed by OSCA into rich compost.

OSCA can process all food scraps, paper hand towels, lawn and garden clipping, cardboard and compostable plates, cups and cutlery sold at the University. Compostable catering products are a significant factor in the success of the waste recovery program and has helped the University convert 25% of its food waste to rich nutrient compost each year.

To ensure the organic waste stream is consistent with OSCA’s requirements, only compostable catering products (i.e. made of 100% corn starch) such as cutlery, plates and coffee cups (including lids) are used in all their food outlets on campus.

Some of the key benefits of using OSCA include:

• Very low energy consumption to run the machine
• Silent processing of organic matter
• Produces odourless compost
• Diverts organic waste from going into landfill
• Reduces transport costs of waste going to landfill
• Educates people about composting

The University Pro Vice-Chancellor (Corporate Services) Bernard Lillis says that their OSCA “allows us to take what we can out of the University’s waste to put back into the soil,” he adds, “It’s also a real-life opportunity to share what we have learnt with our local community and schools.”