UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Everyone knows how messy it can be cleaning up after a catered lunch. Researchers at Penn State's Ag Progress Days, Aug. 15-17, will be composting every bit of waste -- including tableware, cups and trashbags -- from two special event luncheons during the first two days of the event.

The composting project is part of a demonstration by the Organic Materials Processing and Education Center (OMPEC), a collaborative effort between the College of Agricultural Sciences, the Office of Physical Plant and Housing and Food Services. All waste, including biodegradable place settings, napkins, cups and plastic bags, will be collected after each luncheon and brought to a composting demonstration site near the Conservation Tent.

"We call this 'Zero Waste' composting because absolutely nothing goes to the landfill," says Gina Rao, OMPEC coordinator for the project. "The biodegradable table settings and plastic products all are manufactured by Biocorp Inc., which will demonstrate that communities can use these type of products to reduce institutional and household waste."

Rao says the Ag Progress Days demonstration is part of a larger year-round composting project that uses food wastes from Penn State dining halls, leaf litter from University Park's 12,000 trees and manure from College of Agricultural Sciences livestock to create a value-added product that can be used on the university's landscape plantings.

"Right now we are composting kitchen waste from seven dining halls, the Nittany Lion Inn and the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center at a three-quarter-acre site on University farmland," Rao says. "By next year, we hope to expand operations to a six acre site and compost waste from all the dining halls and the HUB."

Visitors to Ag Progress Days can see the "OMPEC Lounge," located in a tent next to the Headquarters farmhouse. The rest area will feature flowers planted in OMPEC compost, benches, visual displays of the project and composting literature.

At 11 a.m., visitors can take a compost demonstration tour at the Conservation Education area and see how compost piles are mechanically turned over. A demonstration of how compost is screened to remove other wastes also is part of the tour.

Rao says the compost produced by the OMPEC project has been used to renovate flower beds at the Penn State Trial Gardens and to rejuvenate compacted soil around construction sites on campus. The compost also is used in a research project on soil renovation at the Penn State Living Filter fields.

Penn State's Ag Progress Days features more than 500 acres of educational and commercial exhibits, tours and machinery demonstrations. It is held at the Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center at Rock Springs, nine miles southwest of State College on Route 45. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday. Admission and parking are free.

For more information, call (800) PSU-1010 toll-free through August 17 or visit the Ag Progress Days site on the World Wide Web at http://apd.cas.psu.edu.

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EDITORS: To contact Gina Rao, please call 814-865-6606.

Contacts: John Wall jtw3@psu.edu 814-863-2719 814-865-1068 fax