Dear President McDavis,

I am writing in regards to an issue that has come to my attention on multiple occasions but has recently been brought into focus by an assignment I completed for my English class. For this assignment we were to research sustainability efforts on campus. After some discussion with the Office of Sustainability as well as students who work in the dining halls, I have become troubled by the misinformation students are receiving about composting practices here at the university.

Currently, the compost vessel that we have in place only composts roughly 50% of the food waste generated at the dining facilities, according to Office of Sustainability’s website. According to the same report, the annual amount of compostable food waste that comes from the dining facilities is in the ballpark of 56 tons. I am aware that we have received $1,088,571from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to be used to expand our compost facility. According to the Office of Sustainability’s website, that project should be completed sometime this year (2011) and it is believed that the site would then be able to accommodate for all 56 tons of waste, not just half of it. Initiatives to reduce food waste generated at the university’s facilities – especially at the dining halls – have been attempted during annual waste audit sessions. What bothers me about this system most is that these audits are only once a year and it seems that not much is being done to reduce food waste beyond those annual sessions.

More needs to be done to keep students informed about our compost system. Before my research, I was under the assumption that everything I put in a bin labeled “Compost” got composted. Sadly, I now know that only my compostable materials from Baker and Shively dining hall are making it that far. Now that I know that is not the case, I will be changing how I dispose of my material, where I place it and even how much food I purchase at on-campus locations to reduce my food waste since our system is not equipped to handle much.

It is my belief that many other students would follow these practices if they were informed about the situation. I propose that the university hold several educational information sessions in order to combat this problem. We cannot wait until our system can handle all of our waste. In fact, the university would not need to spend money to expand our compost site if there was not so much waste to compost. Something can and should be done about how much waste students are producing and the best place to start would be to inform them of the consequences of their wasteful habits.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Sincerely,

Lauren Stauffenger