UI groups gather campus compost from Common’s, Bob’s food courts
Campus Dining collected more than 97,000 pounds of compost last year from the sorting bins at the Idaho Commons and Bob’s Place, General Manager Pat Clelland said. That’s nearly 20,000 pounds more than the previous year, and he said the composting program owes much of its success to campus-wide teamwork.
“We’ve managed to divert that many pounds (of waste) out of the landfill,” Clelland said. “What was garbage has been repurposed.”
He said that process has included a 75 percent paper-waste reduction by the end of 2011, for instance. All of the paper plates at the Commons food court have also been replaced with the reusable plates that used to belong to Bob’s, though the paper variety is still available upon request.
The student volunteers who direct patrons to appropriate waste bins, he said, have been another crucial factor for the program because they eliminate the need for a sorting room and crew.
The University of Idaho Sustainability Center gathers the volunteers, and each is allowed one free meal for each hour’s work, Clelland said.
“The Sustainability Center has made a huge difference in the ease of process at the Commons,” he said. “I can’t give them enough credit for their collaborative effort and partnership.”
Adria Mead, sustainability center director, said she has worked closely with the volunteer coordinator, Alex Rheaulp this year, to organize student volunteers and compost education. She said many of the workers are gleaned from service learning students from the Environmental Science program, and they have been a good crew.
She said it’s a lot of effort to get recruits, and the sustainability center does everything from sending out mass e-mails to placing advertisements in The Argonaut, hanging flyers and utilizing sign-up sheets at tabling events. Despite the gaps that still occur in food court coverage, Mead said volunteer numbers increase every semester and some students choose to stick around.
Mead said the biggest problem is hesitancy among volunteers unfamiliar with composting. At first, she said it was difficult to discern what issues to address in volunteer training, but the years have yielded experience and Rheaulp has substantially reworked the general training presentation to better fit students’ needs. The Sustainability Center also tries to send representatives to instruct new recruits on their first days, Mead said, and trepidation soon becomes enthusiasm with a bit of education.
“When the light bulb turns on and they become more confident, they become excited and they’re more willing to help our patrons,” Mead said. “That’s a big part of what’s made this program great.”
The waste collected in the bins at the Commons and Bob’s is taken to the UI Feed Mill and Dairy Teaching and Research Center. Josh Peak, associate manager, said the facility is still in the learning phase with the composting program. The waste has only been used as soil amendments, he said, but the installation of a pre-compost grinder at the facility will enable them to work the material into an appropriate form for animal bedding. Peak said until now, he bought bedding from Washington State University and the free food court compost will allow him to cut that expense and contribute to the environmental benefit of the program.
“We’re getting a better result from (the program) than I thought that we would, as far as what people are actually putting into the composting bins, (and) what’s making it out to the farm,” he said.
Peak said he’s done most of the research to help the dairy and feed facilities transition into the composting initiative, though the Sustainability Center has been very communicative and helped secure funding for the grinder and other costs.
“(It) is kind of a ‘fly by the seat of your pants,’ trial-and-error, see what’s working, what’s not working (process),” Peak said.
Clelland said the composting program has been centered on exploration and asking questions, not unlike humankind’s quest for the skies.
“This is how it works, coming up with creative solutions, kind of like learning to fly,” he said. “Where are we going to go next? It all starts with an idea.”
Matt Maw can be reached at [email protected]