Case Study: Waste Diversion through Cold
Composting
The Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center
(Departments of Veterans Affairs and Navy) in North Chicago,
Illinois, prevented 320 tons of lawn waste from going into a landfill
through "cold composting." This is the practice of mowing a lawn
and leaving the grass clippings on the ground. The clippings then
decompose and increase soil fertility instead of being collected and
sent to landfills or a traditional composting facility.
By cold composting over the seven-month lawn mowing season, this
technique helped Lovell FHCC increase its total landfill waste
diversion rate from less than 18 to 39 percent. A key component of
the facility's cold composting project was creating a measurement
tool to quantify the benefits of this composting technique.
The Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center.
Sustainable Materials Management
Federal Green Challenge
Key Topics
• Waste diversion.
• Cold composting.
Results
• Waste diversion increased 21
percent.
• Cold composting calculator
estimates the pounds of lawn
waste not sent to landfills or a
traditional composting facility.
• Greenhouse gas emissions
avoided at the landfill.
Facility at a Glance
• 120-acre campus with
numerous buildings including a
full hospital, residences and
power plant.
• Serves sailors at Naval Station
Great Lakes and veterans from
northern Illinois and southern
Wisconsin.
• Participant since 2011 in the
FGC categories of energy,
transportation and waste.
• Recipient of EPA National FGC
Award: Transportation.
• Recipient of EPA Region 5 FGC
Award: Overall Achievement
and Innovation.
CHANGING HOW WE THINK ABOUT OUR RESOURCES FOR A BETTER TOMORROW
United States
EnvlronrnQntsI Protection
Agency
www.epa.gov/smm
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Waste Reduction Increased
Called the Cold Composting Calculator, this tool
quantifies the amount of grass clippings that cold
composting methods leave behind. Work to develop
the calculator began at the Veterans Administration
Medical Center in Dayton, Ohio, and continued at
Lovell FHCC.
The spreadsheet-based tool uses meteorological,
climate, geographical and other data from the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's
National Climatic Data Center, Victory Seeds and
others to calculate the amount of waste diverted in
a given geographic area over a specific amount of
lawn space.
To facilitate approval of this tool for use at Lovell
FHCC, a white paper was written detailing the
benefits of cold composting and justifying its use as
a way for the facility to meet its waste diversion
goals, including the 50 percent non-hazardous
waste reduction goal set in Executive Order 13514.
Composted grass clippings increases soil fertility.
The associated energy, exhaust and greenhouse
gases associated with transporting the clippings to
the landfill are directly offset. It also diverts waste
from the landfill. A key selling point to senior
managers was that the calculator would provide the
facility a way to take credit for something it was
already doing, and with no additional resources.
The tool can be used nationally to help facilities
capture an aspect of their activities that they might
be under-reporting. For more information, or a copy
of the tool, contact Joe Bozeman at Lovell FHCC.
About the Federal Green Challenge
The Federal Green Challenge, part of EPA's Sustainable Materials
Management Program, is designed to challenge federal agencies
throughout the country to lead by example in reducing the federal
government's environmental impact. It helps agencies meet obligations
under Executive Orders 13514 and 13423.
In 2012, nearly 300 federal agencies, representing more than 500,000
employees participated in the Federal Green Challenge. Their combined
efforts resulted in an estimated cost savings of more than $31 million to
U.S. taxpayers.
Region 5, Land and Chemicals Division, Materials Management Branch
EPA-905-F-14-003
February 2014
For More
Information
Lovell FHCC contact:
Joe Bozeman
224-610-4173
joe.bozeman@va.gov
Federal Green Challenge:
http://epa.gov/fgc
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