To decrease the amount of trash going from this university into landfills, officials are piloting a new composting program in one university building and are hoping it will eventually spread to the rest of the campus.
Earlier this month, Facilities Management set up three new composting bins in the kitchen and bathrooms of the Chesapeake Building for faculty and staff to use in throwing away waste such as food scraps and used paper towels — items that would otherwise end up in landfills. If the program yields successful results, Office of Sustainability spokeswoman Fran Avendano said, bins would be installed in other campus building bathrooms and kitchens starting next year.
“This is part of the larger solution to divert waste and minimize consumption in general,” Avendano said. “It’s a natural part of moving the university towards sustainability.”
Facilities Management recycling specialist Adrienne Small said the composting bins — which had already been set up in the dining halls — will play a critical role in boosting the campus recycling rate to 75 percent by 2013. The rate was 63 percent in 2010.
“We’re already recycling a lot of material, so the next step to further reduce landfill waste is to expand the composting initiative throughout the campus,” Small said.
The goal, she added, is to one day set up composting bins in all academic and administrative buildings.
In addition to diverting waste from landfills, Avendano said composting — a natural process in which biodegradable items are combined with dirt and broken down by chemicals in the air — converts waste into natural fertilizers the university can use in campus gardens. Although she did not have details on the program’s cost, Small said sending material to a compost facility is ultimately cheaper than sending it to a landfill.
“It breaks down from being a banana peel to being nutritious soil,” Avendano said. “Instead of using chemicals to fertilize plants and vegetables, this compost mix is the purest way you can grow food and plants.”
Small said waste audits performed over the last several months revealed about 30 percent of the waste in buildings across the campus could be composted.
“That’s a huge amount of waste we could be diverting from the landfill,” Small said. “We have other recycling initiatives, but composting will have the biggest impact.”
And while officials anticipate the program will be successful, Small said motivating the campus community to go the extra step and separate compostable material from standard trash could present a challenge.
Avendano said staff members posted signs on and above the Chesapeake Building’s compost bins to engage and teach people how to use the bins.
Small agreed that educating the university community is key to the program’s success.
“We want to encourage everyone to compost, but if someone is absolutely against it, we’re not going to force them to do it,” Small said. “We’re hoping by educating people about the importance of composting and how it helps the campus be more sustainable that people will participate.”
She said the university could go further with composting in the future — Facilities Management officials are discussing the possibility of someday building an on-campus composting facility.
Avendano said she hoped the program will back up its slogan, “Composting is a growing UMD tradition.”
“This is going to be just as widespread as recycling,” Avendano said. “I would say to the campus community to expect in the next few years to have composting everywhere.”
