Wednesday, January, 6th, 2016 News
by Savannah Christiansen
On Friday, December 4, Tufts Recycles! interns CJ, Savannah and Liora took part in a collaborative compost education event with Tufts Sustainability Collective (TSC). Members from TSC, Tufts umbrella environmental/sustainability group, talked to students in the campus center about the importance of reducing food waste and the role of composting in environmental sustainability. Meanwhile, TR! interns were there to direct students to compost drop off locations and encourage more people in on-campus apartments to sign up for the new compost initiative.
The event follows on the heels of a compost forum which took place on Wednesday, December 2. The forum, run by TR!, aimed to bring together different groups on campus involved in the compost infrastructure and discuss challenges they face. Tufts Eco-Reps, Tufts Office of Sustainability, TSC, the Rez and Tufts Dining were a few of the groups in attendance.
Using knowledge gained from Wednesday’s forum, TSC and TR! members were able to speak to students about Tufts’ compost hauler, Save that Stuff Inc. STS, Boston’s largest locally owned waste and resource management company, brings most of the Tufts’ food waste to farms in Hamilton, Massachusetts, where it is turned into finished compost soil to be sold.
TSC also encouraged off-campus students to begin composting in their homes by offering students finished yogurt containers from Dewick Dining Hall, which can be used as makeshift compost bins. By reaching out to more off-campus students, the hope is to capture more food waste produced by students who have access to kitchens. Additionally, by expanding compost infrastructure to off-campus houses and on-campus apartments, TSC and TR! aim to divert the food waste produced by students’ cooking from our trash stream.