Composting and Waste Management Text

From Common Energy UVic

Contents 1 Composting and Waste Management 1.1 The Question: 1.2 What We Have Learned: 1.3 What We Still Need Know:

[edit] Composting and Waste Management

[edit] The Question:

The Food Group is looking for ways to expand composting and reduce waste on campus. Yard wastes have been composted by the University since 1970, and food waste composting has been available though a public-private partnership since 2004. These services have effectively diverted a large amount of decomposable material from entering the landfill (2004-2005 was estimated to be 150 metric tons) and have provided a rich horticultural supplement to area residents, campus groundskeepers, and the UVic Community Garden. Cluster Housing residents and UVic volunteers within campus buildings deposit organic food waste at one of three drop-off points on campus, which are also used by SUB patrons and the general campus body. University Centre, SUB, and Residence food services additionally compost vegetable scraps and cooking oil. The food waste is processed by reFUSE, a company started by a former UVic commerce student, and the vegetable oil is recycled by Island Processing. These measures are very positive and the Food Group is exploring how they might be expanded. For example, organic waste is not the only waste that is generated by food consumption and preparation on campus. The petroleum-based containers used for food delivery, such as plastic cups and to-go containers, are non-degradable and take up space in landfills. Finding mechanisms for reducing the use of such containers is a task of the Food Group. .

[edit] What We Have Learned:

Composting on campus is very advanced. Due to the high level of composting already occuring on campus most of our initiatives will focus upon expanding the existing composting system and reducing/eliminating the use of single-use food packaging on campus.

Actions

• Support the work of the Environmental Responsibility Committee and the University of Victoria Student Society in expanding the SUB composting program.
• Raise awareness about opportunities to reduce resource consumption and composting in general on campus.
• Collaborate with the Greater Victoria Compost Education Centre to host workshops on campus to raise awareness in our community. These joint initiatives can be promoted through the Pocket Market and the Campus Community Garden.
• Pressure University food services to transition from disposable containers to reuseable containers
• Work to change campus people's behaviours to disposable container consumption.

Proposals

• Collaborate with Facilities Management to expand the current composting system, so that it includes more outside drop-off locations and receptacles in buildings.
• Work towards a campus-wide ban on disposable dishware and utensils.

[edit] What We Still Need Know:

We would like to increase the opportunities for the general campus body to use the compost facilities. One obvious means for this is to bring some receptacles indoors. We have several questions surrounding this issue:

1. How can we ensure that our current compost contractor can accept the additional volume? And if they can not, what options exist for our surplus organic waste?
2. How can the indoor compost facilities be implemented in an acceptable manner with regards to hygeine, labour to empty and clean receptacles.
3. Will these result in any issues around the compost quality control?
4. What will be the costs associated with this expansion (employee time, purchasing of vestibules, etc.) as opposed to the benefits (lower greenhouse gas emissions, less expensive waste transported to the landfill, increased availability of compost for soil amendment, etc.)?

As anyone visiting campus can attest, a large volume of to-go/single-use containers are used on campus. The use of these containers is inherently unsustainable. Alternatives such as recycled/compostable containers exist but are not adequate solutions for several reasons. Many of these containers contain some coatings that make the container non-compostable and/or non-recyclable. As well each container requires an energy input for its manufacture and transportation to its end use here at the university. One alternative to these containers is the use of mulit-use containers such as the present dishware in the SUB for stay-in customers. However, each of these articles carries it's own environmental load based upon its manufacture, transportation, and cleaning. We therefore have several questions surrounding this issue:

1. What is the cost/benefits for a switch from disposable food containers on-campus to multi-use items (eg. what is the typical lifetime of a stainless steel mug (with a high recycled content) and how many paper cups would that be replacing in that time?, what will the additional staffing time be for increased washing?)?
2. What would be the barriers to this change (eg. lack of dishwashing facilities, user theft of containers etc.)? What are the most effective means to neutralize those barriers (eg. install new dishwashers, use a deposit system, etc.) ?
3. Would a tariff system work to discourage disposables?
4. How can we most effectively change campus attitudes/behaviours toward disposables?