Focusing on food waste reduction and diversion within the city of Tucson, community outreach and engagement, public education, and research facilitation, the Compost Cats have been mitigating food waste by composting in Tucson since 2011 and offer several compost drop off locations for Tucson residents.
Cats with a Long Tale to Tell
Since our humble beginnings in 2011, Compost Cats has diverted over 30 million pounds of organics from local landfills, making us a critical partner to waste management and broader sustainability efforts at the University of Arizona, the City of Tucson, and across the region. Because of this success, we have received numerous awards and grants that provide continued support to our initiatives. Follow along below to see how we have grown throughout the years.
The Compost Cats program found its final home in the Office of Sustainability in 2018. During this last transition period, Dr. Ilse Rojas-Hamilton was hired as the Program Manager. Under her leadership, Compost Cats began the restructuring it needed to both operate efficiently and to realign its goals with the University and the Office of Sustainability.
In order to efficiently and responsibly meet the needs of both the community and our partners in the Tohono O’odham Nation, Compost Cats stopped operations at SXCF to restructure and reorganize the entire FoodCycle program.
FoodCycle
Working closely with the City of Tucson, the FoodCycle program was relaunched, and the Los Reales Compost Facility was established. FoodCycle continues to be a joint operation, with Compost Cats and the City of Tucson working together to create an efficient and effective food waste reduction and diversion program for commercial businesses.
Demonstration Sites
In the ongoing dedication to make Compost Cats a program that provides accessible, experiential learning opportunities to all members of the community, we began construction on three compost demonstration sites at the University of Arizona Community Garden, Tucson Village Farm and the Cooper Center for Environmental Learning, delivering live demonstrations to Pre-K – 12 students on composting and sustainability topics.
Today, Compost Cats shares the Office of Sustainability’s mission and purpose, focusing on organic waste reduction and diversion, community outreach and engagement, public education, and research facilitation. Our main projects are tailored to address specific community needs, such as the promotion of food security, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, increasing carbon soil sequestration via the creation of high-quality soil amendments for local farms and gardens, and the creation of accessible experiential sustainability education.
We collaborate with governmental entities, local school districts, UArizona departments, and numerous non-profit organizations and businesses in the Southern Arizona community to inform, inspire, and engage campus and community stakeholders about environmental stewardship and strengthen connections across the region.
To learn more about Compost Cats, please contact us at compostcats@arizona.edu.
Our Awards
Unsung Hero Award, Solid Waste Association of North America
2015
Common Ground Award, Metropolitan Pima Alliance
2015
Outstanding Efforts in Food Waste Recycling & Recovery, EPA
2016
$10,000 Rathmann Family Foundation Honorable Mention Award
2017
$100,000 Rathmann Family Foundation Award
2018
$75,000 Grant, Kroger Foundation’s Zero Waste Hunger Initiative
($25,000 redirected to Campus Pantry at the outset of COVID-19 pandemic).
2019
Excellence in Sustainability Award, National Association of College & University Business Officers (NACUBO)
2021
$25,000 Grant, Kroger Foundation’s Zero Waste Hunger Initiative
2021
$10,000 Grant, Kroger Foundation’s Zero Waste Hunger Initiative
2022
$19,200 Grant, USDA Composting and Food Waste Reduction Pilot Project
2023
$25,000 Grant, Kroger Foundation’s Zero Waste Hunger Initiative.
2023
Our Community Partners
