Interns have been working with Building Services, Physical Plant, and Directors of the Johnson Center to work on incorporating more composting on campus, including Res Halls, and Academic Buildings. Look for the recently placed yellow compost kirbies outside of Residential Halls, and new green bins inside Academic Buildings come Spring Semester, starting February 1!
Throughout September, October, and November, there were some infrastructure challenges to the composter, forcing compost to be put on pause. These challenges included missing parts of the composter such as the compactor and unclear status of composting between groups on campus. Interns and staff worked hard to try to alleviate some of the unknowns, producing Digital Signage asking students to put compost materials on the carousel, meeting with different sectors of campus such as Building Services, Physical Plant, and the Directors of the Johnson Center, and trying to reduce to-go material use. COVID has made reducing single-use materials challenging, but Dining Services, students, and staff did what they could with the current situation.
As of early December, compost was back and running on a smaller scale! This smaller-scale compost operation included a new compactor and a 20-yard dumpster next to the composter that collected Dining Services compost materials.
And now, as of January, the compost team (consisting of Physical Plant staff, Sustainability Interns and Jeff) have been meeting regularly and connecting with various groups across campus to get the word out regarding composting updates and proper sorting of waste including Residential Life, Dining Services, and Building Services (which includes our Building champions). New compost kirbies and pick-up routes are in place for the Spring semester, updated signage will be placed around campus prior to Feb 1, and we’re excited to start collecting!
The following Blog Post will be a guide for how to sort your waste at waste stations and our new signage!