Residence needs more robust composting

By Thomas Booker

Behind the residence dining hall there is a solitary green wheelie bin into which a handful of eager students dispose of their compost. This one small bin is underused and rarely full. Many of the students living in residence are not even aware that composting facilities exist on campus. As part of a class conservation project, I decided to look into ways to get students to use these facilities more.
Composting, the breaking down of organic material into nutrient rich soil, is a sustainable waste management practice many perform at home. By composting you allow nutrients to be returned to soils that will use them, rather than taking up room in landfills.
Although I have been living in residence since September, when I began this project I was completely unaware that SFU even offered any composting services. In this I was not alone. A survey that I sent out to my fellow residents shows that 81 per cent of students living in residence were not aware of the opportunity for composting facilities.
I sent out a survey to as many residents as I could. The results showed a shocking lack of awareness of the composting program, with 81 per cent of respondents saying that they did not know about the composting facilities. However, this does not imply that SFU students are unwilling to compost. In fact the opposite seems to be true with an overwhelming 81 per cent of students saying that they would be happy to participate in a more user-friendly composting program. But for those students living in townhouses and those residences not so close to the dining hall, taking out the compost is a pain.
One of the remits of SFU residence is to be as sustainable as possible. Reducing the amount of waste being sent to landfills and incinerators is an easy and efficient way to help achieve this goal. Because of the concentration on sustainability SFU has installed recycling bins alongside the garbage cans in residences equipped with kitchens and they are regularly collected. The logical thing to do would be to supply kitchens with a composting bin and have the compost taken out with the garbage. Currently this is done in an opt-in system but students, being what they are, rarely do this.
There is an initiative set up by Sustainable SFU, the Zero Waste Initiative, which is doing a damn fine job. They are responsible for the compost bins that are now at the food outlets on campus, but it seems that SFU residence and the rest of SFU operate in relative isolation of one another so integrating the two has proven difficult.
For now my goal is to get more people composting in residence by increasing awareness of the facilities. Perhaps if enough people show that they are willing and want to compost, SFU residence will rethink their position and provide more accessible and user-friendly composting facilities. Until that point, SFU residents who would like to compost must take their (and perhaps floormates’) compost to the bin themselves. For anyone who needs a compost bucket, Booster Juice in Cornerstone has agreed to provide them free of charge or you could use any old Tupperware or pail. Alternatively you can buy one from Reslife for $12, along with bags for $5.
Obviously there will always be some people who will take out their compost regardless of the distance involved, perhaps even other people’s too, but the sustainability of SFU residences should not rest on the shoulders of those long-suffering, sandal-wearing folk.