"Gateway Science Museum hosts the Gateway Gardens, a thriving ""biodiversity hotspot."" Our immersive native plant exhibits highlight California's diverse flora and habitats, demonstrate drought-tolerant systems in one of the warmest spots on campus, provide resources for local wildlife, and serve as a study-ground for university and high school student researchers. Our Edible Garden showcases small-scale food-growing strategies, including a three bin compost system powered by garden waste, campus coffee grounds, and food waste from the museum office. This project will enable us to refresh our compost bins with a new shade structure and improve our collection of food scraps through the distribution of portable food scrap containers to staff offices on the California State University, Chico campus. Wooden pallets are currently used to shade our three bin compost system, but are unwieldy for museum staff to move when adding food waste and do not fully protect the compost piles from sun and rain. Volunteers would help with the assembly of the new shade structure, preparation of finished compost for use in our garden beds, and the turning of our active compost piles as part of an overall refresh of our three bin system. In addition, we partner with 1 staff office on the Chico State campus from whom we collect organic waste for composting at the museum. We will could expand this partnership to many more offices on campus, channeling their organic waste to our compost system. Staff from said offices would be invited to volunteer at the compost bin refresh described above, receive a verbal presentation and written instructions describing our compost process and what types of organic waste we accept, and be given a portable food scrap container for use in their office space. Museum volunteers would then collect the organic waste from participating offices on a weekly basis, reducing their organic waste contribution to the landfill, building community around climate action, and powering the creation of compost for use across the museum’s gardens."