Ever greener, Davidson takes on large-scale composting

Food and yard wastes that Davidson's service facilities produce will now be composted to form completely natural fertilizers rich in nutrients. The waste will come primarily from Commons, the Union Café and other dining services, including Connor Eating House, and the rest of the waste from the yards around campus.

All of this waste will be composted using a newly acquired commercial–grade rotating drum built specifically for composting. Waste spends approximately six days rotating inside the Green Drum at high temperatures. The benefits of using a drum rather than just letting waste decay are that the drum lets oxygen enter, thus making the process faster.

Because of the oxygen and moisture and in addition to the mixture of carbon and nitrogen from the waste itself, the composted product will have neither odor nor any surviving pathogens. It will be environmentally friendly in every sense.

Once the compost matures (three to six months after its original processing in the drum), it can be used to nourish all of the gardens, yards and flowerbeds around campus. Even the new blueberry patch near Vail Commons will be fertilized with this compost.

The composting project was started by a group of students in Anthropology Professor Fuji Lozada's food and culture course. As Sustainability Fellow Kealy Devoy explained, these students researched available methods, analyzed their costs and benefits and talked to experts. President Ross "loved the idea," Devoy said, so the project soon took off.

One such expert is Bernie Beers, whose company, BW Organics, sold Davidson the Green Drum. What is key for projects like Davidson's is that we understand that, "this is not waste but unused energy," Beers said. "People need to become used to that term of ‘unused energy,'" Beers added, so that they can articulate the benefits of organic fertilizer.

Aside from significantly reducing Davidson's carbon footprint, another benefit of organic fertilizers is that they are more financially sound. When "comparing the costs and benefits of composting versus using conventional fertilizers," the benefits far outweigh the initial costs, Beers explained.

These initial costs include the $40,000 cost of the Green Drum, but after the initial investment there is not much more spending required. Even the energy needed to keep the drum's main motor on all day costs only 38 cents per day.

Composting "just makes sense," Devoy said. "Why put your food waste in a landfill when you can turn it into a high quality soil amendment? Composting will reduce the number of trash pick-ups that Commons needs. It will reduce the amount of compost we need to buy every year to put on campus. It will reduce the amount of solid waste we send to a landfill, thus reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. Using compost on soil will promote carbon storage in our soil, further reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

These reasons all stay true to the college's commitment to environmental sustainability and to becoming a carbon-neutral campus.

"Overall, we estimate that composting will prevent 12 metric tons of CO2 from being emitted each year, which is about the same as removing two vehicles from the road for a full year," Devoy added.

Once this project is fully up and running, Davidson's goal of reducing food waste by 50 percent will be within reach.

The virtuous circle that this composting initiative will kick off will provide the Davidson College community both with fresher and healthier food while reducing our greenhouse gas emissions—both of which the College considers worthy goals.