Thanks to Harvard’s composting project, the once hardened ground is now so healthy that plant roots easily grow and extend 6 to 8 inches into the soil.
Always on the forefront of change, eco-minded college students nationwide are among the most passionate advocates for taking composting mainstream. Not only can composting reduce food waste from college cafeterias that feed thousands a day, but it can also reduce the cost of irrigation, fertilizer and pesticides for maintenance of college campus grounds.
Harvard has launched an especially ambitious campaign — pledging that all 80 acres will be fully organic within 2 years time. In achieving this goal, composting plays a critical role as it breaks down organic matter (i.e., food waste, grass clippings, etc.) into a nutrient-rich material for creating healthy soil instead of sending it off to the landfill where it will take years to decompose under anaerobic conditions. When worked into the soil, compost helps grow healthy plants that can more easily resist pests and diseases, thus eliminating the need for synthetic chemical fertilizer and pesticides.
In fact, before Harvard’s composting project launched, the ground was so hard they could only dig 3 inches deep! Now the soil is so healthy that plant roots are easily growing and extending as much as 6 to 8 inches into the ground.
GlobalShift.org’s Victoria Reitano recently spoke with CompostMania’s Robert Olivier and Karl Warkomski about the growing trend toward college composting.
In her article, CompostMania: Creating a Need for Sustainable Living, Victoria Reitano shares some reservations about composting that are representative of many:
“I believed, before speaking with these men [Robert and Karl], that composting was smelly, hard to do, and really unnecessary for someone who doesn’t have a garden,” writes Victoria.
Then “after my interview with the creators of CompostMania, I realized all of these ideas were false. [Compost] doesn’t smell, it can be done in an area as small as a dorm room, and although you may not garden, you can ‘swap’ your compost with people who do.”
In fact, CompostMania recommends some indoor compost bins that can be utilized in a college dorm room. And if you live in an apartment, the BioPod Plus outdoor grub composting unit is ideal. This clean, compost unit is perfect for a patio or deck and breaks down food waste in as little as 2 days time.
As for meeting the large-scale needs of composting organic waste from a college cafeteria, CompostMania recommends the ProtaPod – the commercial, industrial-size version of the BioPod, which also breaks down food within 24 to 48 hours.
For any more incentive you may need to explore composting opportunities at college, or encourage students you know to do the same, check out the Top 10 Reasons to Compost and The Truth About Your Trash.
Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/crschmidt/46097721/
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