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Composting Makeover

Composting resumes at Ursinus, but with substantive changes to Lower Wismer

Ursinus is committed to handling waste in environmentally sustainable ways, and has a record of increasing waste diversion rates (the amount of waste that we divert from the landfill or incinerator) since 2004. Composting food waste is a key component to Ursinus’ overall waste management strategy, and the College has been composting post-consumer food waste from the Upper Wismer dining hall since 2010 and prep food waste since spring 2014. Composting is the process of converting organic waste into a reusable resource such as soil or mulch. Composting helps protect the environment by reducing the pollution in landfills, and the subsequent greenhouse gas emissions. Compost also enriches soil and reduces the need for water, fertilizer, and pesticides.

In the spring and fall of 2014, Ursinus started a pilot program to expand it’s composting efforts to include waste from Lower Wismer’s a-la-carte dining services. The effort included the installation of four large bins that allow sorting of waste, the replacement of most of the to-go containers with compostable versions, signage and articles. Unfortunately, this program was not successful. We had contamination rates between 30-40%. This means that between 30-40% of the materials that were put in the compost bin were either recycling or trash. This rate is much too high for successful composting.

This might seem like end of story, but there’s more to it:

A major component of any compost program is the facility where the compost is handled. Ursinus’ compost was taken to Peninsula Compost, a composting site near the Port of Wilmington, DE. Peninsula was struggling with its own issues: after complaints from neighboring areas about the strong odor and the resemblance of a landfill (problems stemming from high contamination from non-organic waste – such as plastic wrappers, bottles, and other trash items) Peninsula was cited by the state of Delaware for these issues, and was forced to close its operations in October 2014. This happened shortly after we started composting in Lower Wismer. A recent news article, cited high sources of contamination, like the compost Ursinus was providing, as part of why Peninsula Compost was shut down. After Peninsula was shut down, there were no facilities willing to accept highly contaminated compost from Lower Wismer or our minimally contaminated compost from upper Wismer. This left us in the unfortunate situation of having to send all of our food scraps to the incinerator (where our regular trash goes) for several months.

However, because of our low contamination in the Upper Wismer dining hall compost, as of Spring 2015, composting resumed in upper Wismer. As was previously the case, Upper Wismer collects and pulps all food from prep and left overs as well as paper products (napkins and food boats), and sends it to a local compost facility. Although the lower Wismer pilot program did not succeed, upper Wismer is a success story: we compost about 1200 pounds weekly in upper Wismer alone! Be sure to continue placing all of your used paper products and leftovers on the conveyor belt, where it will be sorted and sent away to become soil.

We have discontinued composting in lower Wismer entirely, with no plan to reinstate the program. Not all pilot projects are successful, and this one was not. There are now two options: trash (which goes to the incineration facility in Conshohocken) and recycling (which goes to a local ReCommunity Recycling plant). Please put all of your food products into the trash. Recycling is for plastics, paper, and metals. We will be getting new lids to replace those labeled “compost.” The new lids will be labeled “trash.” There will also be new signage that describes what can and cannot be recycled in lower Wismer, so keep an eye out for them! A community acting together can make a significant impact on our regional waste system; our collective action can make that an impact for the positive.

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