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

Plano, Texas, a sprawling suburb north of Dallas known for its fine homes, strong schools and high ambitions, is carving out a new facet of its reputation, that of the greenest city in North Texas.

Two years ago, the city of 260,000 introduced Live Green in Plano, a sustainability initiative that encourages its citizens to be good stewards of the environment. “We’re setting the standard in Texas, with our scope of programs and services offered,” says spokesperson Melinda Haggerty.

Under the program, the city has expanded its recycling to reach beyond where most Texas towns go: Plano picks up paper, glass, aluminum and organic scraps from residences and restaurants. It turns the food waste into compost and sells it back to residents at reasonable rates.

The organic waste collection closes a loop in the food chain that helps Plano tamp down landfill waste and return something of value to citizens.

But the city doesn’t stop there. It offers a rebate to residents who improve their home landscapes and reduce water consumption at the same time. Plano residents can earn up to $200 by following the requirements of the YardWise Landscape Beautification Rebate. After enrolling in the program, they must:

1. Attend all four YardWise education classes.
2. Submit the rebate application and photos of the property from before and after the improvement.
3. Show copies of receipts for materials used in the new landscape.

Plano’s sustainability experts recommend that residents planning to make their landscape more sustainable consult horticulture experts to find native, drought-tolerant plants. One web resource they recommend is the Texas Smartscape, a site developed by the North Central Texas Council of Governments to help gardeners find hardy, native plants.

The Live Green in Plano program is sponsored by the city’s Sustainability Department and offers a wide range of green tips as well as promoting a number of community earth-friendly events, says Haggerty. Some of these include: a recent sustainable home improvement seminar; a four-week series of energy efficient workshops co-sponsored by Elliott’s Hardware Store; a home energy efficiency seminar Feb. 21 and a lecture on “10 Steps to a Greener House” on March 5.

Some of the Live Green programs are open to non-Plano residents, says Haggerty. One of these is electronic recycling. “Anyone can participate in electronic recycling which takes place twice a month — on the 1st and third Saturday of every month,” she says. “We work with a recycling vendor who monitors the e-waste and allows us to track where it’s going.” The city’s extra effort helps assure that the electronics don’t end up in a developing country with lax regulations for toxic chemical disposal, a problem that’s arisen in recent years as cities heave off increasingly large mounds of obsolete electronics.

The city also has started a “Material Exchange,” where residents can list items they’re wanting to jettison, in hopes of finding someone who can use the used stuff.  The program lists only items for giveaway and involves non-profits. It claims that it has helped divert 14 tons of material from landfills.

And on April 18, it will again host the Live Green Expo, a gathering of green vendors and home improvement businesses, at the Plano Centre.

Living green means creating a community in which residents conserve resources, minimize waste and reduce toxic products and materials, Haggerty says. Then residents can reap the rewards of healthier ecosystems, smaller utility bills and more environmentally friendly spaces.

The city further defines “sustainability” as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

Copyright © 2009 | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Some unenthusiastic recyclers grouse about having to keep separate collection barrels for glass, plastics and paper. Imagine the whining taking place in Southern California right now, as certain Los Angeles residents are being asked to start separating food scraps from the rest of their trash as well.

Following the lead of existing programs in places like Seattle and the San Francisco Bay Area, L.A. is testing a food-waste recycling program in pursuit of its zero-waste goal. As the L.A. Times reported when the plan was announced, around 5,000 residents of three neighborhoods are being recruited for the experiment: Each gets a two-gallon bin (the size of a small cooler), which they’re to keep in the kitchen and fill with a variety of food-related waste — not just apple cores and spoiled leftovers, but egg shells, bones, and even non-food items like pizza boxes and paper plates that have been soiled by food contact and therefore are forbidden in the normal recycling bin.

On collection day, residents are to empty these kitchen bins into curbside receptacles they already have — the green ones used for leaves and tree branches. That material should, in the colorful language of a city report, “absorb fugitive liquids” and keep odor to a minimum. Together, food and lawn waste eventually will be turned into compost.

Los Angeles already has a program helping restaurants recycle their wasted food, but estimates that over a quarter of what goes into residential trash bins is food waste as well. According to this NPR report, planners believe that if it were to expand throughout the city, this household scrap collection could divert “600 tons of wasted food that go to the landfills every day.”

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media