One Eastern student has a simple solution for making the campus more efficient and environmentally responsible-composting.

Stephani Pescitelli, a senior environmental biology major, will submit a proposal to President Bill Perry for the diversion of organic waste from the Thomas Dining Hall within approximately two weeks.

Pescitelli hopes the program will eventually incorporate all dining halls.

“A compost program offers benefits to Eastern in the form of waste reduction and also tremendous educational value,” Pescitelli said. “On one hand, a new system is being put in place to divert over 70 pounds of waste each day to produce nutrient-rich organic fertilizer for campus.

Additionally, a compost site would offer a space for student research, service, independent study, and skill-building.”

Mark Hudson, director of university housing and dining services, expressed his support of the program.

“I think the university needs to look at every way in which we can be more green,” Hudson said. “It’s good for the environment, but there is also a lot of cost avoidance built into that as well. The less you can put into a landfill, all the better.”

Hudson described how the compost program would cut costs.

“We have a trash contract, and we pay by the amount of trash they haul away.” Hudson said. “If we can reduce that amount then there will be some savings that are related to that. Plus, if it creates some organic matter that can be used to fertilize flower gardens and stuff like that, those will be things we won’t have to buy.”

Pescitelli said food scraps will be collected from the Thomas Dining Hall kitchen and transported to a site on campus, located between the soccer fields and the Frisbee golf course, which is currently used by grounds operations to process yard waste.

“Some of this yard waste will be incorporated into the nitrogen-rich food material to ensure the balanced carbon-to-nitrogen ratio required for effective decomposition,” Pescitelli said. “The resulting compost product will be available for grounds operations for landscaping on campus, and also for a future campus community garden.”

Pescitelli said the staff at Thomas Dining Hall has played an essential role in pushing the program forward.

“I conducted three waste audits in the kitchen to assess the volume of waste we could collect, and during this time the staff took ownership of the system and provided valuable insight and support,” she said.

Pescitelli said the program would require little extra effort for those involved.

“The kitchen staff will simply dispose of certain food scraps in a conveniently placed receptacle,” she said.

In addition, collection of the food waste, which will be coordinated through the Office of Sustainability, which is a division of facilities planning and management, will only require the student workers to pick up the compost receptacles along with the recycling materials already picked up on a daily basis.

Pescitelli said she was inspired to establish the program while studying at Humboldt State University in Arcata, Calif. through the National Student Exchange program.

“I noticed that compost receptacles were placed around campus right next to trash and recycling bins,” Pescitelli said. “It made so much sense to me that organic waste be collected the same way as other materials.

When I came back to EIU, I wanted to bring some of the ideas and inspiration I picked up in California to my own campus community.”

Illinois State University, as well as Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, already has a compost program. So far, SIUC has composted 170,000 pounds of waste using their current system, Pescitelli said.

Ryan Siegel, Eastern’s energy and sustainability coordinator, praised Pescitelli’s leadership in developing the project.

“I think it’s been a great partnership between the environmental biology department and the office of energy and sustainability, to be able to bring Stephani on board to really flesh out and develop the plans for this composting program,” Siegel said.

Jason Hardimon can be reached at 581-7942

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