One of the many ways the Greenbelt Community engages with sustainable living is through composting. Not only does composting help plant growth, but it also helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Best of all, it is easy to compost on Furman’s campus. The Furman Farm has a great composting program that is tied in with the Dining Hall and the Eco Reps program.
Since the Furman Farm is organic, it uses compost instead of synthetic fertilizer to give the plants nutrients. Synthetic fertilizer can cause eutrophication when the nitrogen from the fertilizer seeps into the groundwater and runs off into local bodies of water. This nitrogen provides plenty of nutrients for harmful algal blooms to rapidly form. Algal blooms soak in the dissolved oxygen from the water, leading to severely low oxygen levels. Fish, among other aquatic wildlife, will die from the lack of oxygen in the water (Schlossberg). While composting is nutrient-rich like fertilizer, it strains out pollutants from waterways, and when properly applied, does not pose a significant eutrophication risk (Guidice). In addition to using compost, the Furman Farm uses compost tea to water the plants. Compost tea is made of compost, water, and a small amount of brown sugar or molasses (Justus), which promotes plant growth.
Beyond being a more eco-conscious substitute for fertilizer, composting also helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions. When food is sent to a landfill, it decays anaerobically and releases methane into the atmosphere (Brooksbank). Methane accelerates climate change at a rate 25 times greater than carbon dioxide (EPA Greenhouse Gas Emissions). By composting, Furman is reducing the amount of methane released into the atmosphere, and thereby reducing its greenhouse gas emissions.
The compost at the Furman Farm comes from the Dining Hall and the Eco Reps composting program. The Eco Reps provide compost bins and educational resources to Furman students interested in composting. There are several on-campus sites to dispose of the compost collected in the dorm bins. All of the food waste from the dirty plates in the Dining Hall is put into large bins that are taken to the off-campus composting site. This site houses several industrial-sized composting piles that get used at the Furman Farm once the organic matter decomposes. These compost piles are watered and turned regularly to promote an ideal environment for the microbes that break down the decomposing waste. Since these composting piles are so efficient, dairy and meat products can be composted at Furman instead of just plant products (The Green Guide 8).
Although Furman does a stellar job at turning food waste into compost, it is difficult to stop non-compostable trash from entering the wrong waste stream. Non-compostable trash in the Dining Hall refers to any plastics; the food waste and the brown paper napkins can compost. Many students are unaware of the need to dispose of the trash on their plate before sending the food waste back to the Dining Hall’s kitchen. The Dining Hall workers quickly compost what is on the plate, which makes it easy for hard-to-spot trash and hidden silverware to end up in the compost piles. When the food waste has decomposed, the compost is used on the Furman Farm. The student farm hands are left to deal with picking trash and silverware out of otherwise beneficial compost (Justus). Since the compost is used alongside the produce, it poses potential health problems when plastic trash ends up next to the plants that are harvested and sent to the Dining Hall.
You can make a difference in Furman’s composting efforts by disposing of the non-compostable trash from your plate before putting your plate on the DH conveyor belt. Additionally, you can request a compost bin for your dorm from your Eco Rep. Your Eco Rep should contact you within the first month of the semester with information about receiving a compost bin. If you haven’t received an email about this, you can contact your RA. In order to avoid washing your compost bin every time, you can use compostable liners. This reduces the cleanup effort, which can help make composting a consistent habit. Small steps to become more environmentally-conscious can bring purpose to your life while helping your community become more sustainable.
Compost tea recipe:
Ingredients:
- 50 gallon bin
- 5 gallon bucket of compost
- 1 tablespoon molasses or brown sugar
Instructions:
- Add compost and molasses/brown sugar into bin
- Fill 50 gallon bin with water
- Steep for a couple days until foamy
- Sift foam off of the compost tea
- Agitate compost tea with shovel and refresh with more compost/sugar after it has been depleted 3-5 times
Citations:
Brooksbank, Kim. “Composting to Avoid Methane Production – Western Australia.”
Agriculture and Food, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development , 9 Sept. 2022, https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/climate-change/composting-avoid-methane-production-%E2%80%93-western-australia.
“Greenhouse Gas Emissions.” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, 16 May 2022,
https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases#CH4-reference.
Guidice, Heather. “Composting: An Easy Way to Reduce the Impacts of Food Waste &
Improve Soil & Ocean Health .” Eat Blue, Eat Blue, 26 Feb. 2021, https://www.eat.blue/human-health/composting-an-easy-way-to-reduce-the-impacts-of-food-waste-improve-soil-ocean-health/.
Justus, Kara. Personal interview. 24 September 2022.
Schlossberg, Tatiana. “Fertilizers, a Boon to Agriculture, Pose Growing Threat to U.S. Waterways.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 27 July 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/27/climate/nitrogen-fertilizers-climate-change-pollution-waterways-global-warming.html.
The Green Guide, Furman University, 2020,
https://www.furman.edu/sustainability/wp-content/uploads/sites/181/2020/09/2020-Green-Guide.pdf.
