Compost Cats
Started in 2011, Compost Cats was the only organization in Southern Arizona accepting large volumes of food scraps, manure, brush, and other landscaping materials. From 2011 to 2018, Compost Cats diverted over 20 million pounds of organics from local landfills, making it an invaluable component to waste management and broader sustainability efforts at the University of Arizona and across the region.
In late 2018, Compost Cats transitioned out of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Cooperative Extension and into the Office of Sustainability. Since this transition, we have been busily realigning the program with the University’s strengths in education, outreach, and research.
Today, Compost Cats also serve to improve the composting capabilities that can be found at Cooper Center for Environmental Learning's Demonstration Garden where the concepts and practices of composting can be used to further teach essential sustainability and ecological cycles lessons while seeing the literal fruits of labor involved with composting.
The Compost Cats have taken this area and transformed it into the Discovery Garden where composting practices can be taught as part of Camp Cooper's outdoor classroom education.