A composting pilot program was started at the beginning of the quarter, with six compost bins placed in the bathrooms on the McFarlane side of JMAC, where paper towels can be composted.
According to Kaela Martins, a sophomore environmental science major who started the initiative, the program is aimed at both educating students about composting—or using organic material to create fertilizer—and showing facilities management that composting is a feasible option on campus.
“Short term, [the goal] would be to make sure students understand what composting is, to not contaminate it, and for them to show in the long term facilities that composting is part of the campus, it is something that is needed,” said Martins. “We’re basically trying to show facilities that it’s not an additional cost and it’s also not more work for the people who would normally take out the trash.”
Martins hopes to see the pilot program expand to include composting bins throughout JMAC by the end of the year. She also hopes to have campus facilities management pick up the composting starting next fall.
To accomplish these goals, data is collected about the composting bins and whether they are used effectively. Student volunteers analyze and weigh the compost from the bins at the end of each day, and the data collected from this process will help show whether students are using the composting bins effectively, according to Martins. An outside company then comes in to pick up the compostable material, process it and sell it.
Sustainability Coordinator Chad King explained that although Sodexo produces and uses compostable containers in many of the on-campus dining areas and provides composting locations in the dining areas themselves, students have nowhere to put the compost once they leave the dining areas.
“[The pilot program] really grew out of a very real concern about the fact that all the compostable material that is created on campus comes from our food service areas,” said King. “It allows composting to make more sense.”
He said the program will go through an established, standard approval process and will help identify best practices for composting on campus. He also noted that the project has been a collaboration between students, university facilities management and Sodexo.
“It’s been a nice group effort between students—clearly it’s student driven—facilities has been helpful and has been on board in lining up the project and then Sodexo is providing the product,” he said.
Martins said she is hopeful that the pilot will expand into a more fully developed program during her time at DU.
“I really want this program to turn into a big success,” said Martins. “Eventually, I’d like it to be so that there are more compost bins throughout campus, and it’s fully supported.”
King said the investment of students like Martins makes him hopeful about campus sustainability.
“I like seeing student involvement in something like this. It’s definitely a lot of work but it shows that they care and are invested,” he said. “Students brought composting to campus, now they’re helping to expand it.”
