ENVR 470 Applied Sustainability: Giving a Scrap! – Implementing Composting at SUNY Potsdam (2024)

In 2023, a campus food audit represented SUNY Potsdam’s first step toward compliance with a state mandate that institutions of our size compost post-consumer food waste. Our follow-up compost project sought to reduce the campus’s food-waste footprint of “two tons per week” by introducing compost bins in several locations: the main dining halls, BSU, PAC, and BearCave. Waste disposal signage and student-tabling advertised the new process, in hopes of increasing community awareness of compost procedures & its end- product at the local Whitten Family Farm. As sustainability interns, we found the community was slow to learn how to compost, but within just a few weeks, we have seen great compliance in all dining facilities. The next step will see PACES transition their non-compostable to compostable items. Future steps will extend the project to campus townhouses & dormitories.