Group Project

For our group project, my group: Justina, Carolyn, Koto and I, decided to propose a solution to the food waste problem on campus. Food waste is an issue because it takes many years to deteriorate in landfills and causes the release of methane gas during its deterioration. Currently on campus, we have no program for our food waste. The dining areas on campus simply throw away leftovers and expired foods. The campus could create a compost pile, give leftovers to food banks, or donate them to farms that can feed it to livestock. The idea of donating excess food waste to local farmers came from food waste recycling programs at other university campuses around the nation. Campuses such as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Kansas State University recycle food waste by composting. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has a food scraps recycling program that includes specialized bins that state “FOOD WASTE ONLY” for students and campus employees to put food scraps and paper products. There are also various collection locations in food preparation areas and dish-wash lines in dining facilities around campus where employees can discard scraps. The scraps are placed in larger carts that are picked up by service vehicles, weighed, and delivered to an off campus compost site. In 2001, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill recycled 1,174.40 tons of organic material, 33% of their total recycling efforts. Of that 33% of organic material recycled, 256.48 tons was food waste, 22% of total organic material recycled. (Fact Sheet-Food Waste Recycling, n.d.) Another campus that recycles food waste into compost is Kansas State University. Kansas State has an on campus composting program which includes picking up about 1,500 pounds worth of preparatory food waste from two campus dining centers weekly; then dropping it off at the student farm. At the student farm, they cover the waste with a layer of carbon-rich material like hay, and when the food waste breaks down into useable compost, the student will use it on their crops, such as vegetables, fruit trees and mushrooms. They also use other organic waste generated by the campus like leaves, tree limbs, seeds, grains and garden waste. The UNCW can use both the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Kansas State University as templates for a food waste-recycling program in efforts to help control the food waste problem in landfills. UNCW may not have the facilities to create their own compost but could easily donate food waste to local farmers who already have compost systems in place. I think that UNCW may have tried to establish a compost pile before but due to county regulations caused us not to be able to build one. But donating to farms would be feasible and effective because it costs almost $70 per ton to bring waste to landfills. Donating it to farms would save money and would benefit the environment and farmer.