Dining Services greenlights composting pilots

Dining Services is moving ahead with two composting pilot programs that the department hopes to unveil outside the South Campus Dining Hall and The Diner on North Campus at the start of next semester.

Dining Services would acquire both composting units for a free 60-day trial before deciding whether to implement either of them on a full-time basis. The first composting system will be set outside The Diner and break down food waste into wastewater; the other will break waste into a soil amendment on South Campus.

Director of Dining Services Colleen Wright-Riva said both pilot programs are running on schedule to start in January, but if negotiations with equipment vendors take longer than expected, Wright-Riva said the opening could be pushed back later into the spring semester.

"The reality is that this is an element of many tasks, and to coordinate it is a great effort," Wright-Riva said.

Office of Sustainability Director Scott Lupin said there are at least two vendors with food-to-wastewater composting machines approved by the Washington Suburban Sanitar Commission. But he added the university is withholding judgment over the composting possibilities until the end of the 60-day trials.

The wastewater method would pump water into the garbage and use an enzyme to break down organic waste into liquid that can be treated by water treatment plants. If this method is selected, it will be one of only a few models in the area.

The second method would create a soil amendment, or nutrient, from the waste that could then be reused around the campus like a fertilizer in areas such as flower beds and for other landscaping purposes.

Although the university will test both composting methods, Greg Thompson, Dining Service's assistant director of facilities, said he prefers the soil-amendment system.

"It's our best bet," Thompson said. "It would be useful, and we would not have to use 300 gallons of water a day to use the other method."

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