UVa Compost Expansion

UVa Dining is making significant strides on the waste-to-landfill reduction front, with the addition of Newcomb Dining Hall in its compost program just two weeks ago. This expansion comes after sixteen months of smooth composting operation at O-Hill; throughout that time, over 50 tons of organic waste were diverted from the Amelia County landfill. As has been the case since the program's inception in the fall of 2008, all dining food waste is run through a pulper (to remove water and increase surface area of the food - and its ability to break down) and transported by UVa Recycling to Panorama Farm in the northern part of Albemarle County. UVa Dining is grateful for the cooperative efforts of UVa Recycling, Panorama Pay-Dirt, and UVa Environmental Health & Safety Office for helping Dining significantly reduce its environmental impact. Composting at O-Hill and Newcomb combined will be diverting approximately 4.5 tons of food waste from the landfill per week!

I had the pleasure of taking this success story to a recent NACUBO Smart & Sustainable Campuses Conference and presenting a poster on our program. The conference was the perfect opportunity to share our waste reduction efforts with a higher education audience - hopefully other schools will be able to implement similar programs without too many obstacles.