Composting Efforts on Campus

As you may have noticed, composting is becoming more popular on the University of Michigan’s campus. There are compost bins throughout the Ross Business School, student groups are using compostable materials at their events and U-M Dining Services have begun to explore composting. The Student Sustainability Initiative is especially involved in the composting efforts through its zero waste program and contact with administration within the university.

The Waste Reduction and Recycling team at the University of Michigan have done a terrific job in expanding the resources in regards to compost. Currently, you can order a compost bin from this team and have regular pick-ups of compost (at a cost). All the compost that the university picks up goes to WeCare Organics on Platt Rd. in Ann Arbor. They accept both pre-consumer and post-consumer compost. All compost that arrives at WeCare Organics can be broken down in just a few months.

In addition to the university composting service, there are some private services that can be utilized for composting. These services are more expensive, but have more flexible availability and compost sorting. Contaminants (items that cannot be composted) in compost hauled by the university must be zero or very low. However, some private haulers will separate the trash and recycling from the compost.

A majority of the current composting projects on campus are listed below:

1. Ross has compost bins throughout the building like recycling bins. They work with a private compost hauler who sorts through to separate trash from compost. They have had a considerable amount of trash in the bins since people don’t read signage or don’t care to separate their waste.
2. The Student Sustainability Initiative (SSI) has a program called Zero Waste. Through this program, any student group can request compostable plates, cups, silverware and bags to use at events in which they serve food. The materials are completely free and available to any student group on campus. Since 2012, SSI has provided compostable materials for almost 200 events including larger events like Dance Marathon, Circle K Service Day, and MHybrid’s Design Review.
3. A Planet Blue Student Innovation Fund (PBSIF) Grant was given to Chris Wolff to do a composting project. He is working with other students to set up composting carts and materials for events in the schools of Public Policy, Art and Architecture and Public Health.
4. Although the stadium has not gone completely zero waste yet, athletics is thinking about sustainability. There have been smaller zero waste sports events and the golf course composts all yard waste. There is support to have many more zero waste sporting events.
5. There should soon be a compost bin in the SNRE if there isn’t one right now. Only a few students have access to use, and they will mostly be disposing compost generated from lunch.
6. The University has significantly increased the amount of composting that happens in dining halls. A majority of the dining halls already compost the pre-consumer food, and the administration is working to extend this to all dining halls. East Quad and South Quad have a pulper to consolidate compost. However, there have been some problems with pulper logistics. Individual dining halls and university restaurants/cafes have their own composting goals. For example, North Quad is currently looking into composting post-consumer items. The administration is also encouraging all restaurants that serve coffee to compost the coffee grounds.

The overall goal is to make composting as well-known and utilized as recycling. Although both compost and recycling have challenges of incorrect placement, we hope to improve knowledge and appreciation of both alternatives to waste. By introducing composting into different aspects of student life, we can work towards this goal. Click here to learn more about composting at U-M.