04/22/24 - 117 New Stories - REAL Environmental & Conservation Leadership In PA: http://tinyurl.com/9bh4zbtr
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Franklin & Marshall Kicks-Off Food Composting Program
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Franklin & Marshall recently introduced food-waste composting to three locations on campus in the College’s latest initiative to encourage sustainability and environmental stewardship. The majority of the College's food waste ends up at a new composting facility at Oregon Dairy, where Turn TEQ machines speed up the process of aerobic decomposition.
Food-waste composting began in October at the Benjamin Franklin Dining Hall, where students now scrape food from their plates into BioBags rather than into plastic trash bags. Students also place compostable flatware, cups and napkins into the bags, which are beside regular trash bins. In addition, composting takes place in the kitchens of the dining hall and the Alumni Sports & Fitness Center.
The College contracts with Edie Waste to haul the material to a new composting facility at Oregon Dairy off Route 272.
“Students follow the same food-waste process as before, only now we have new bags,” says Tom Simpson, Millport liaison and sustainability coordinator, who worked with several people over nearly two years to bring the project to life. “The students’ participation and enthusiasm have been wonderful. Students come up to us and say, ‘I think this is great, thank you for doing this.’”
Simpson worked closely with Kevin Dean, general manager of F&M’s dining services, on the logistics of the new program. Dean is an employee of Sodexo, the College’s food service provider.
“Four years ago, one of my goals was to focus on sustainability efforts in F&M’s dining services,” Dean says. “We introduced recyclable napkins, recyclable cooking oil, organics, and tried to reduce waste wherever we could. Composting seemed like the logical next step.”
F&M ranks highly among Sodexo’s clients in embracing sustainable practices, Dean says. The company recently notified him that the College is among the top 5 percent of all of its clients in sustainability efforts.
Planning for the composting program began in 2008, when Fritz Schroeder, director of programs at LIVE Green in Lancaster, encouraged the College to begin composting. Simpson and Dean worked on the project with Barry Bosley, associate vice president for administration; Maria Cimilluca, associate vice president for facilities management and campus planning; and Ted Schmid, director of grounds.
The College also began composting pizza boxes from Common Hour this semester. Approximately 125 boxes from Antonio’s Pizza House end up in the compost pile each week.
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11/22/2010 |
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