Thursday, January 29, 2015

Waste Reduction and Recycling Spotlight: Residential Composting Program Expands!

Morrison and Manning West will join Ehringhaus, Manning East, Ram Village, Hinton James, Connor, and Cobb as communities enrolled in the residential composting program. Residents in these communities may check out a personal compost bin via the Residence Hall Association (RHA) Enhancements program. Residents are responsible for emptying their personal bins into the green community collection cart at the designated outdoor dumpster site. The food scraps are transported to the Carolina Campus Community Garden (CCCG). CCCG volunteers mix it, turn it, and transform it into compost, a nutrient-rich soil amendment used on the garden’s crops. CCCG produce is later distributed to UNC Housekeepers. CCCG hosts volunteer workdays on Sundays and Wednesdays, 3 PM to 5 PM.
Last semester, the six enrolled communities diverted 978 lbs of food waste from the landfill! The residential composting pilot program began in Spring 2014 with four residential communities. The Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling (OWRR) works with RHA and the Department of Housing and Residential Education to incrementally enroll additional communities each semester. Read more »