University officials hope to test drive two new methods for composting waste in an effort to make the campus a model for other institutions and businesses.
The Office of Sustainability, Facilities Management and Dining Services may soon implement two parallel pilot programs, each of which involves a machine designed to transform trash into useful materials, such as water and soil nutrients, while eliminating the need for costly handling and transportation.
“Food is stable waste in a landfill, so if we can find a way to digest it and use it, it would be beneficial to us and to other companies,” said Scott Lupin, the associate director of the office of sustainability. “From the pilots, we will get the data we need to look at lifestyle cost versus the cost of purchasing the equipment.”
Both machines use enzymes to break down organic waste, like food scraps, Lupin said.
One method involves equipment that turns junk into a “soil amendment,” or nutrient, that could be used anywhere on the campus, including flower beds, Lupin said. The process would slash the volume of the waste by 90 percent, he added.
The second machine — which would be the only one in the Washington area, according to Lupin — would pump water through the trash, allowing the water to digest the material. The diluted trash would become waste-infused water that meets the quality standards of water treatment plants, where it would eventually flow.
“The way it works is that water is collected and goes to a plant to improve the quality in order to be let out,” Lupin said. “In order to reach the quality of the water [for the treatment plant], we would be pre-treating it.”
Lupin said both methods would cut down the reliance on other parties for handling and transportation, which would cut the university’s emissions.
“There’s much more reliability because we don’t have to throw away material, and we won’t have the carbon footprint associated with transportation,” Lupin said.
Waste from the Diner and the South Campus Dining Hall is hauled by an outside transport company to a composting facility in Cecil County — about an hour and a half away.
Greg Thompson, the assistant director of facilities for Dining Services, said it costs more than $3,000 per month to transport waste from North and South Campus to the facility, except during summer months, when fewer residents means less trash. He added the new pilot equipment doesn’t meet every need, though it is intended to offset high transportation costs.
“There are limits to the machine [that produces waste water] because it cannot grind up some food like corn husks and pineapple tops,” Thompson said. “Since we will have to up our water usage to 300 gallons of water a day to run it, I’m hoping the end result can be reused for landscaping water.”
Thompson said it would only cost about 55 cents per ton to compact the waste in a trash compactor.
“It would be cheaper to do it the non-green way because that way will always be more costly,” Thompson said.
The three departments are evaluating vendors and their equipment but hope to have the pilots underway by the end of January. Director of Building and Landscape Services Harry Teabout said the university will choose one of the two options after six months of the pilots.
“We’re very excited about these tests because it has taken a long time” for the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission to agree to the pilots, Teabout said.
Teabout said the three departments are expected to clear the pilot programs at a meeting early next month.
dcetrone at umdbk dot com
