GREENING SYNAGOGUES RESOURCES

Compost

Adapted from resources assembled for the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, November 2002:

Composting / Gardening
Composting is a vital part of sustainability – it diverts organic waste from the waste-stream (landfills or incineration), and converts it into healthy soil. Composting can be incorporated into the synagogue setting fairly easily. The Germantown Jewish Center in Philadelphia uses the dirt produced by their composting to plant an Israel garden on the grounds of the synagogue. Gardening can also be an important way to connect the synagogue to its environment. Congregation Rodeph Shalom in Pittsburgh has one of the country’s most extensive Biblical gardens. Additional resources for composting include:

The U.S. Composting Council, a trade and professional organization promoting compost.
Earth 911, an organization dedicated to providing information on backyard composting
Mastercomposter, a web site that gives information on bins, tools and many other issues. It can connect you to the master compost program nearest you and answer your questions via its message board.
EPA’s composting web page provides additional background information on regulations, educational web sites, and publications.

Adapted from COEJL Program Bank, “To There It Returns: Compost” (a 45-minute interactive, educational program for all ages)

1) Collecting “trash” ---15 minutes

Take the children outdoors. With gloves or small plastic bags on their hands for safety reasons, have them collect items that have been used before (candy wrappers, leaves, apple cores, "garbage"). Ask them to also collect some soil and leaves or grass clippings. When you return to class, have the children talk about what they have collected and how these things have been used by people, plants, or animals in the past, before becoming "garbage."

2) Studying cycles --- 15 minutes

Read the following verse from Ecclesiastes:

"All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place from which the water flows, there it returns." (Ecclesiastes 1:7)

Ask participants to discuss briefly what it means for the water, or for other organic material, to return from where it came. Take a look at the recycling symbol; why was it chosen?

Discuss some of the following points:

What is "garbage?" Is it good for anything?

Discuss what "biodegradable" and "compost" mean. (Biodegradable: human-made material that can break down into small, organic parts with the aid of natural weathering processes and bacteria. Compost [noun]: the rich organic material created when materials such as leaves grasses, manure, and food, are broken down by bacteria; can be used as garden fertilizer; [verb]: to prepare material so that it will become compost)

What parts of our garbage could be "naturally recycled" (composted) and returned directly to the soil (leftover food, clippings, other organic materials)? What parts need to be sorted out and recycled in other ways (aluminum, glass, plastic, paper)?

What happens to garbage that doesn’t decompose and isn't or can't be recycled? (It can remain garbage for millions of years!)

3) Making the compost --- 15 minutes

Cut the tops off the plastic bottles and punch a few holes in the sides to let the contents breathe. Make two sorts of bottles. In one, layer the bottle with the soil, the food, leaves, and more soil. In the second, put non-biodegradable trash, such as candy wrappers, metal, etc. Stir the contents of each bottle, and set the bottle on a tray to catch the water that drains out. Date the bottles and place them in a warm place. Label which bottle has what type of "garbage" in it. You can have the children draw the recycled symbol and place it on the bottle.

Ask the children what they think will happen in the bottles. Check the bottles periodically over the next weeks and months. After about two months, the contents of the bottle with food should turn into a rich compost that can be used as fertilizer in a garden.

4) Next steps --- ongoing

This composting experiment can be used to start an ongoing composting and recycling program in the synagogue, or to kick-off the planting of a synagogue garden. See the other programs in this section for more details. Most gardening stores and many local nature centers will be glad to help you learn how to compost on a larger scale. Vermiculture (worm keeping) is another option. Worms are clean, don’t smell, easy to contain and highly portable.