Middlebury College is a private liberal arts school in Middlebury, Vermont. All of the 2,482 students are undergraduates and live on campus (13.1), which is approximately 350 acres (13.4). Middlebury has a long history of striving to become a more sustainable school and has typically been on the forefront of environmental movements such as recycling and composting. In 1995 the school’s Environmental Council published a seven-chapter report called “Pathways to a Green Campus” in which the council detailed all of the methods the school should take to become more environmentally friendly (13.3). A desire to increase composting was included in this report. In 2002 the school built its own 7,500-square-foot garbage and recycling facility, which they call the “Material Recovery Facility” (13.2). The MRF, among other benefits, has allowed Middlebury to process their organic waste just 4 miles from campus instead of shipping it four and a half hours to New York to be composted, as they had been doing (13). Because of their demands of their environmentally conscious population and the opportunities created by the MRF, Middlebury has been able to create an effective composting system. This is how it works:
Collection:
Middlebury’s current composting program focuses completely on the food waste created in the dining halls. One of the most effective aspects of the school’s composting program is that it requires almost no effort from the average student. Instead of leaving students responsible for separating their own post-consumer waste, Middlebury has a system set up where students put their plates, food and all, in a plate room and the separation is done by workers in the dining halls (13). This is a smart move on the school’s part because some students, at least at Brown, don’t even throw away their own food let alone take the time to think about what can and can’t be composted. Dining hall workers also compost the pre-consumer waste while food is being made every day (13). All of the pre and post-consumer waste is then collected in bins in the kitchens and is stored until it is taken outside to larger boxes where it can be collected. The two newest dining halls were even designed with features that reduce the smell of the compost while it is in the kitchens (13).
Processing:
Once the food scraps have been collected they are taken to the MRF and mixed with horse manure and woodchips, which the school gets from local farms (13). The horse manure in the mixture introduces microorganisms that speed up decomposition and the woodchips allow piles to be less dense, letting more oxygen to flow through them. After being mixed, the compost materials are put in windrows and left outside (13). The workers at the recovery center turn the windrows routinely to ensure the proper conditions are being met. The MRF typically keeps its windrows above 130 degrees F until they have fully decomposed. A major difference between this process and the others that I studied is how long it takes. Depending on how cold the weather in Vermont gets, the piles can take anywhere from 6-8 months to decompose (14). Contrary to what you might think, though, Middlebury does not mind how long their process takes because they believe it produces a superior product (14). They even put their compost through a screen to make sure there are no particles larger than 5/8 of an inch. The material that does not make it through the screen goes back into another year of composting (14).
Distribution:
Despite how long the composting process takes at Middlebury, their patience pays off. An article in Middlebury Magazine called the compost “black gold” (14). Once it is ready, the landscaping staff uses the compost as fertilizer on all parts of the campus, including the quads and athletic fields. Last year alone the school used 75 cubic-yards of it and the school horticulturist, Tim Parsons, was quoted in that same article saying, “There’s never enough of it. Not by a long shot” (14). But how much is enough? In 2009, Middlebury composted 750 tons of material, increasing their waste diversion rate to 64.2%, and saving $94,001 in landfill fees (13). For a list of what was recycled, click here. Middlebury has a solid composting system right now, but need to get their students involved. If they can get students excited about composting and have them start doing it in their dorms and apartments, then they will save more money and produce all the extra compost Parsons wants.
Collection:
Middlebury’s current composting program focuses completely on the food waste created in the dining halls. One of the most effective aspects of the school’s composting program is that it requires almost no effort from the average student. Instead of leaving students responsible for separating their own post-consumer waste, Middlebury has a system set up where students put their plates, food and all, in a plate room and the separation is done by workers in the dining halls (13). This is a smart move on the school’s part because some students, at least at Brown, don’t even throw away their own food let alone take the time to think about what can and can’t be composted. Dining hall workers also compost the pre-consumer waste while food is being made every day (13). All of the pre and post-consumer waste is then collected in bins in the kitchens and is stored until it is taken outside to larger boxes where it can be collected. The two newest dining halls were even designed with features that reduce the smell of the compost while it is in the kitchens (13).
Processing:
Once the food scraps have been collected they are taken to the MRF and mixed with horse manure and woodchips, which the school gets from local farms (13). The horse manure in the mixture introduces microorganisms that speed up decomposition and the woodchips allow piles to be less dense, letting more oxygen to flow through them. After being mixed, the compost materials are put in windrows and left outside (13). The workers at the recovery center turn the windrows routinely to ensure the proper conditions are being met. The MRF typically keeps its windrows above 130 degrees F until they have fully decomposed. A major difference between this process and the others that I studied is how long it takes. Depending on how cold the weather in Vermont gets, the piles can take anywhere from 6-8 months to decompose (14). Contrary to what you might think, though, Middlebury does not mind how long their process takes because they believe it produces a superior product (14). They even put their compost through a screen to make sure there are no particles larger than 5/8 of an inch. The material that does not make it through the screen goes back into another year of composting (14).
Distribution:
Despite how long the composting process takes at Middlebury, their patience pays off. An article in Middlebury Magazine called the compost “black gold” (14). Once it is ready, the landscaping staff uses the compost as fertilizer on all parts of the campus, including the quads and athletic fields. Last year alone the school used 75 cubic-yards of it and the school horticulturist, Tim Parsons, was quoted in that same article saying, “There’s never enough of it. Not by a long shot” (14). But how much is enough? In 2009, Middlebury composted 750 tons of material, increasing their waste diversion rate to 64.2%, and saving $94,001 in landfill fees (13). For a list of what was recycled, click here. Middlebury has a solid composting system right now, but need to get their students involved. If they can get students excited about composting and have them start doing it in their dorms and apartments, then they will save more money and produce all the extra compost Parsons wants.