Composting in Illinois : Knox College and Better Earth

Last year one of our compost partners Better Earth Logistics in Peoria, IL, contacted our Midwest Product & Zero Waste Specialist (PZW), Jamie Brown to see if Eco-Products could help with contamination in the compost stream of a customer of theirs, Knox College.

Luke Rosenbohm at Better Earth told Jamie that they had to suspend the collection of the college’s compost due to unacceptably high levels of contamination.

Knox College is very committed to sustainability - they have a student-led farm on site where they grow vegetables that they use on campus and also do small-scale composting, so they were eager to work with us to clean up their commercial compost stream.

Jamie talked to Knox about the support services Eco-Products offers to customers and walked them through our free to use CIRC program (Controls Intended to Remove Contamination).

Jamie worked with key players at Knox College including Tina Hope, Director of Campus Sustainability Initiatives, and current and former Student Senate Sustainability Chairs Nicole Roman ’27, and Teagan Springer ’24. Using the CIRC spreadsheets and other tools, they have begun to clean up Knox’s compost stream so that Better Earth Logistics would feel confident and willing to reinstate their collection services.

During this process Jamie found that the main issue Knox was facing was centered around procurement (items not available or being subbed by the distributor), education and signage.

To address these issues:

• The college requested that the dining staff purchase a full suite of compostable products from Eco-Products including clamshells, hot cups, cold cups, and plates.
• Knox began purchasing these compostable products directly through their composter Better Earth Logistics.
• Three bin systems were ordered and deployed around campus in strategic locations.
• Eco-Products flew to Illinois and created a “how to sort” video with the students, which is played on loop in the cafeteria.
• Custom bin signage was created for cafeteria and events.

We continue to support the successful relaunch of composting at Knox College!

In addition to compostable products, Knox College has also adopted reusable containers which they give to students at the beginning of the year to further cut down on their waste.

For more on CIRC, please visit ecoproducts.com/circ-program