Composting for schools

School children adding food waste to Ridan composter

Help your pupils to learn about the Eco life-cycle through composting with a Ridan Composter.

Composting for schools is educational, practical, fun and cost effective.

Teach them about the Eco Life-cycle and sustainable living by converting green waste and food waste into nutrient rich compost that will help to feed the soil to promote the growth of new life.

All raw and cooked food waste produced by your school or college can be effectively composted using the Ridan food waste composting system, including fruits, vegetables, meat, eggs, fish and dairy products. As long as your school has some gardens or grounds, you can recycle all of your food waste onsite, as soon as it has been discarded.

Composting is a natural process, but the conditions have to be just right for the process to take place. The Ridan Composting system ensures the conditions are just right. During this natural process, energy is released which heats the mixture and creates steam, much to the amusement of children and some adults too!

The final product is a healthy, nutrient rich compost which can be fed back into your plant pots, borders and gardens or used for community projects.

  • Eco friendly
  • Practical
  • Educational
  • Fun

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Composting for schools

Schoolchildren with Ridan Composting Machine

It is now possible to recycle all common school waste products including all food waste products, grass and plant cuttings, in fact, any bio-degradable material into nutrient rich compost.

The initial stage is to add food waste and green waste to the Ridan Composter together with an equal mix of wood chips. This is then turned by hand on a daily basis (A task the kids seem to love!). The turning keeps the mixture aerated, preventing the mixture from rotting (which creates harmful emissions).

Once the mixture reaches the end of the Ridan Composter, it will be released and collected in a bucket, then moved to the maturation box to mature.

The compost produced by the Ridan can then be used to enrich the school soil – allowing carbon consuming plants to be grown.

No more stinky bins, no need for vehicles to collect and transport your food waste – just stick it in your Ridan!

It’s win, win, win situation for your school, your pupils and the environment!

Compost maturation period

The fresh and nutritious compost that emerges from the Ridan should be matured for 2-3 months before being used on the garden. Whilst maturing, the compost needs to be stored in a suitable maturation bin, such as the Ridan Maturation Box. Usually these bins are used in pairs – one to be filled daily, and the other full and left to mature. Once the full bin has been harvested, simply swap the two around.

Easy, fun and educational!

A Ridan to suit your school

We offer a choice of two Ridan Food Waste Composting Machines, to accommodate schools and colleges of all sizes. The best way to decide which size of Ridan you need is to measure how many litres of food waste are produced by your school each week. Here is a guide:

Of course, please remember that other factors need to be considered too, such as:

  • How efficient are the school/college kitchens?
  • How much fresh produce is prepared on site compared to how much is bought in?
  • What sort of foods are being thrown away? Vegetable matter, fruit and greens compost easily and quickly, but meat eggs and dairy take longer.

Students at Argent College operating a Ridan Composter

How much will it cost?

Specifications Ridan Pro 200Ridan Pro 400
Maximum Throughput 200 Litres per week 400 Litres per week
Unit Dimensions (meters)2.4L x 1.0W x 1.5H2.5L x 1.0W x1.6H
Unit Weight (empty)60Kg70Kg
Price of Ridan £3950 plus vat £4650 plus vat
Maturation Boxes2 @ £480 each plus vat3 @ £480 each plus vat

I am amazed at how well the Ridan works, how easy it is to use and how quickly it composts, as a result we now only have one bin collected every week instead of two and we have plenty of rich compost for the garden

Wayne Hack, Stowford Primary School, Ivybridge, Devon

Devon County Council Food Composting Projects

Devon County Council have pioneered eco-friendly school food waste recycling projects throughout the county. The Compost Schools Special has been published by the DCC to help other schools across the UK.

For more fantastic information and advice, please see: The Zone

Risk assessments, guidelines and teaching resource for schools

For risk assessments, guidelines and interpretation boards for installing a Ridan at your school or college, take a look at this school page http://zone.recycledevon.org/compost

For teaching resources to help educate your students about food waste recycling and composting, see http://zone.recycledevon.org/composting

Further resources

Eco Schools, Food For Life and Garden Organic are all enthusiastic campaigners for composting school food waste.

So do your bit for our planet; get your school to recycle their food waste in the most environmentally friendly way by installing a Ridan Composting system.

Start Recycling the Eco Way!

Your school can recycle their food waste in the most environmentally friendly way, install a Ridan Composting system. Landscore Primary in Devon did just that have a look at this press cutting:

School Food Waste Recycling

Help our friends at Food For Life


For all Food for Life and Soil Association members who buy a Ridan, we will donate 10% of the sale cost to Food for Life because we love what they do!food for life

Food for Life brings schools, nurseries, hospitals and care homes, and their surrounding communities together around the core ethos of healthy, tasty and sustainable food. The programme is about more than just food on the plate; it considers where food comes from and how it’s produced, cooked and experienced.

The Food for Life School Award supports schools to take a whole school approach that sees them grow their own food; organise trips to farms; source food from local producers; set up school farmers’ markets; hold community food events; provide cooking and growing clubs for pupils and their families; serve freshly prepared, well-sourced meals and provide an attractive dining environment so lunchtimes are a positive feature of the school day.

Find out more here: http://foodforlife.org.uk/schools