By Ame Phitwong
A survey conducted by an environmental studies class found that 86 percent of UP students would compost if they could. In response to the survey results and a general student desire to compost, Physical Plant is teaming up Bon Appétit to discuss the possibility of creating and managing a composting program at UP.
Currently, UP does not participate in a campus-wide composting program. Physical Plant director Paul Luty said he is still in discussions with the university's primary garbage hauler, Eckert Sanitary, to make arrangements to transport compost bins from campus.
"We have to find out if it will cost more money to haul the compost. We'll need new bins (specific for compost) and there will be an extra two stops (The Cove and The Commons) for the garbage haulers," Luty said.
He said garbage hauling costs $95,000 a year at UP. Because there is no composting plant in Portland, the compost generated from the university will be dropped off at a location in Portland where the city's compost will be collected and sent to a composting plant near Seattle, Wash.
"I'm not too excited, because you have to re-train people to separate. But it's a good thing," Luty said. "You just wouldn't see the immediate benefit like if you were to turn off a light bulb."
Although composting hasn't started, Kirk Mustain, general manager of Bon Appétit, said his staff is prepared to compost. According to Mustain, talks about composting began three years ago, but it wasn't until the last four to five months that the university considered implementing a composting program.
"It's do-able," Luty said about getting composting started at UP. "We'll get it going as soon as possible."
Junior Nick McCormick has been working with Mustain and Luty to bring composting to UP. He explained that there is great dependency on fossil fuels in the United States, and composting would keep food out of the landfills and prevent the creation of "dead zones." Dead zones are areas that can't support aquatic life because nutrients from places like landfills pour into water sources, encouraging algae growth that depletes oxygen from the water, killing the wildlife.
"I think it's the next big step to bring the university closer to carbon neutralization," McCormick said.
Composting is the natural process of recycling decomposed organic materials into a soil known as compost. By composting organic waste, nutrients are returned to the soil as the materials break down through a combination of air, moisture and heat.
All food, plants and food-soiled paper such as cardboard, napkins, paper towels and coffee ground filters can be composted. Items like liquids, grease, cooking oil, plastic, glass and metal cannot be composted. According to RecycleWorks.org, finished compost appears dark brown, crumbly and smells like a forest floor.
Composting can take from one month to a couple years, depending on the type and amount of materials in the waste, the temperature, moisture, and air in the composting environment.
"I think it's the right thing to do. We already buy biodegradable cups and plates," Mustain said.
He said the extra separating will not increase the workload on employees because they already practice separating glass, tin and other non-biodegradable materials.
"We just want to support the technology," he said.
Luty believes composting is more beneficial for homeowners than it is for UP because the university won't be able to use the compost for growing food.
"As a creator of food waste, we won't be saving anything because we won't be using it. But hopefully someone else will use it," Luty said.
UP is working with the Office of Sustainable Development in Portland to create an efficient composting program. The office works with local businesses to integrate composting into their regimen. The office's "Portland Composts!" program is a voluntary program designed to help Portland food businesses with composting and divert food scraps and food-soiled paper from landfills. According to the group's Web site, 75 percent of waste that goes to the landfill comes from businesses.
The program also states that removing food from the waste stream significantly reduces the global warming impact because decomposing food waste is a large source of methane.
To encourage composting, Portland Composts! offers free set-up assistance, training to employees and free collection containers. It also provides free educational materials and gives customer service.
