Recycling Food Waste: It’s Academic
March/April 2005 E/The Environmental Magazine, by Elizabeth Glynn

Don’t even try trashing that half-eaten salad at the University of Oregon’s (UO)
Annual Folk Festival, the University of Vermont’s (UVM) Orientation Picnic or
Humboldt State University’s Spring Fair. The trash stations are manned, making
sure you recycle everything from your food-smeared paper plate to soy
sauce-soaked chopsticks.

Meet the food waste bin. You can find it at a growing number of college
campuses. Students, faculty and staff are waking up to their wastefulness. The
nation’s colleges throw out approximately 4.5 million pounds of food waste per
meal, according to the environmental research group Inform Inc. These campuses
feed their excess to soup kitchens, pig farms or let it rot in the compost.

“Composting is the new frontier in waste reduction and recovery,” proclaims
Karyn Kaplan, UO recycling program manager. Last year, UO recovered 80 percent
of the waste at the folk festival—40 percent being compostables.

From aerated piles to bins of worms, the benefits are clear. Banana peels and
coffee grinds add up and colleges cash in. Ithaca College recovers 350 tons of
food waste per year, saving $20,000 in landfill tipping fees. Washington State
University (WSU) saves $5,000 a year by using the composted
end-product—nutrient-rich soil—in landscaping. WSU gains another $50,000 a year
by selling its compost to local garden stores and landscapers. Colleges also use
compost for biological research, local school field trips, course curricula and
demonstration projects.

Collecting and composting isn’t always easy, though. “Expecting students to
separate the waste themselves proved a disaster,” says Mark Darling, Ithaca’s
recycling coordinator. Sorting by the kitchen staff keeps contamination down and
compliance high in most dining halls. Erica Spiegel, UVM’s recycling manager,
adds “How does the carrot peel from the kitchen end up at the compost site? Make
it easy for the guy peeling the carrots to participate.”

But don’t be fooled: students participate! At UVM, they asked for biodegradable
bags to compost in the dorms. A student research project at Middlebury College
yielded a greenhouse heated by composting piles, keeping fresh greens alive
during the winter. And students give workshops to the local community at
Humboldt’s Compost Festival.

The key to success is collaboration. University recycling coordinators share
information on the College and University Recycling Council’s listserv and at
national and regional conferences.

CONTACTS
College and University Recycling Council
1727 King Street
Suite 105
Alexandria
VA
22314
Phone: (202) 687-2033

E.I.C    UO Home    Facilities    Others    Sitemap    Contact Us   UO Printshop