A composting initiative in the caf is lowering food waste and fertilizing a local garden, but they might need a new place to do it.
McAlyn Forbes, acting junior, came up with the idea.
“I began looking into composting on college campuses because I thought it couldn’t be that difficult,” Forbes said.
Forbes talked to Alumnus Ken Williams who started the Repurposing Club on campus. Williams advised her to communicate with Biology Professor Dr. Adam Ryburn and Dr. Anthony Stancampiano, associate biology professor, to put the composting initiative into action.
Forbes, Ryburn and Stancampiano met with Arthur Drain, director of dining services, to figure out a plan for the caf.
“We came up with a plan to start composting pre-consumer waste, so that’s all the stuff that they cut up and discard before they send it out to the caf,” Forbes said.
Patty Franklin, a caf worker, said she and the other staff members set aside the food to be composted when they are preparing for the day.
“When we do our prep for cold food, the peels from pineapples, melons, tomatoes, and berries, all the fruits and vegetables, they all go in there, and they put them in the ground, and they compost, and then they’ve got it for the yard, they’ve got it for the flower beds. It’s free fertilizer, the best kind,” Franklin said.
Franklin said composting is efficient and less wasteful.
“It’s an easy process, and it’s better than throwing it in the trash. That’s what we were doing. I think it’s a wonderful idea they came up with,” she said.
Franklin said the only food they give to be composted is food from the kitchen, not food that students don’t eat.
Forbes said she and Stancampiano pick up the compost from the caf on Mondays and Wednesdays to take to the OCU community garden, located behind the Oklahoma Children’s Theatre. She said they use the science department’s golf cart and garbage cans to transport the compost materials.
“There’s this giant box we dump it all in, and then, I think two times a year, we turn it, which is this huge big process,” Forbes said.
Forbes said, after the compost has turned into dirt, they use it to fertilize the garden.
Natalia Botello, vocal music sophomore, composted at CommonWealth Urban Farms, 3310 N. Olie Ave., to fulfill her service learning credit for her environmental ethics class.
“What I’ve learned from my service learning is just that we waste so much food that can go back into the earth,” Botello said.
Botello said she learned most food products can be composted, but people don’t like to compost meat and dairy products because of the smell.
Franklin said they do not send meat, dairy or other foods besides fruits and vegetables to be composted.
Forbes said she is looking for other places to send the compost since the garden is small and the caf produces a lot of waste to compost.
“We’re not going to be able to continue for the whole rest of the semester, but I’m in communication with an off-campus composting service that is going to be in communication with the caf to hopefully get some compost going in an area that can sustain a larger amount of food waste,” she said.
Composting doesn’t cost anything, but, if officials decide to find a place off campus, it would cost to transport.
Botello said composting is a positive change for the university.
“The earth does so much for us, we should try to take care of it. It is a long process, but it’s honestly not that hard. I mean, imagine how much food is going to waste,” she said.
Students interested in helping with composting can email Forbes at msforbes@my.okcu.edu or Stancampiano at ajstancampiano@okcu.edu.
“Just having more people involved in general would be really helpful. It would bring more attention to the fact that it’s important,” Forbes said. “We need to create a culture of less waste because people don’t think about it, but just being more vocal about it and bringing more awareness to it is a good first step.”
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