June 9th, 2009
By Shermakaye Bass
Green Right Now
Besides producing some of the most esteemed graduates in the world, Cornell University is cultivating
something altogether different: Compost. And it’s getting kudos for doing so.
The school, based in Ithaca, NY, recently received the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2009 Environmental Quality Award for its composting operation, and all that results from it. Granted, it’s not the Nobel Prize (Cornell has been affiliated with 40 Nobel Laureates and almost 30 Rhodes Scholars), but the efforts have cut the university’s waste stream in half, by way of an eight-acre composting facility, which produces up to 6,000 tons of garden-ready compost each year and is run by Cornell Farm Services. The process diverts approximately 8,000 tons of organic garbage from 57 campus waste streams. An impressive matriculation.
Through a massive campus-wide effort, covering the university’s 750 acres, Farm Services has coordinated dining halls, dorms and classroom buildings – and is ramping up an awareness campaign to encourage its 20,000 grad and undergrad students to separate their wastes and recycle. As a result of the efforts, last year more than 850 tons of food scraps and biodegradable utensils from 11 dining halls were diverted from landfills. That’s not to mention the 3,300 tons of animal manure and bedding that won’t go to the county dump. Ditto, the 300 tons of plant and soil materials from campus greenhouses.
Cornell’s composting program accomplishes several things:
- Halves the university’s waste output; reduces landfill emissions
- Eliminates the 65-mile drive (and therefore auto emissions) to a landfill
- Eliminates the $50,000 transport costs
- Produces compost for its own needs
- Sells the excess to local landscapers, farmers, vinyards and garden centers – for $15 per cubic yard.
Now, if only more universities of Cornell’s size and stature would start graduating their garbage.
(Photo credit: Cornell University Photography)
Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media
