When compostable plates, clam shells, salad containers and utensils were introduced at Tresidder’s Union Square Cafe on Friday, diners joined in a campus-wide effort aimed at reducing food-related waste.

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Mae Ryan

new compost program is being implemented at the CoHo, Tressider Union, Olives and the Alumni cafe

Enlarge
#gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/7398
Mae Ryan

new compost program is being implemented at the CoHo, Tressider Union, Olives and the Alumni cafe

Dawn Kwan ‘09 and Dayoung Lee ‘09, lead organizers of the project, spent Friday coordinating a team of volunteers to help teach diners how to properly sort out compostable material from trash. The volunteers, nicknamed Fellow-Biocompostable Inspectors (FBI), wore green clothing and guarded trash bins to keep out contaminants.

“We’re just helping out mainly with education of the Stanford community to get in the habit of composting properly,” Lee said. “Setting up the system is not enough — it’s only one part of the equation. A very important part is getting people to adapt to this change effectively.”

“Our main issue is [the program] has to be sustainable,” Kwan said. “When we had the volunteers there, there was no problem of contamination.”

She added that people were excited about the project but unsure of exactly which materials were compostable. Kwan said people often throw in creamers and soy sauce packages, even though they are not actually biocompostable.

“A major problem with composting is contamination,” Students for a Sustainable Stanford (SSS) member Aluma Dembo ‘09 said in an email to The Daily. “One plastic plate would cause the entire dumpster to be thrown out.”

The compostable service ware is made of unique, biodegradable materials. The plates and clam shells are made of sugar cane fiber extract, the utensils of potato starch and the clear salad boxes and yogurt cups of corn starch. Though the cost increases associated with using these products is significant, Stanford Dining has not raised its prices, Lee said.

“There are stickers on the dishware that say whether it’s compostable or not,” she added. “A lot of things look like plastic. If you’re not sure, just put it in the trash for now.”

Dembo is also a lead student organizer for Row house composting efforts.

“Composting in the Row house kitchens began this winter with a pilot program in the Cowell Cluster: Terra, ZAP, Tri Delt, Pi Phi and Kappa Alpha Theta,” she said. “It seems to have been a pretty big success, since they’ve recently rolled out the second phase to the Lake houses: Narnia, EBF, KA and Jerry.”

Dembo also cited the Toyon Eating Clubs as an example of a composting success story on campus.

“At Toyon they managed to reduce their landfill by about two-thirds its original amount,” she said. “Considering recent findings on the lack of degradation within landfills, it’s really great to get as much out of them as possible.”

Lizzie Suiter ‘07, kitchen manager at Jerry, said the transition from dumping to composting has been smooth and Dembo said student reaction to the composting project has been largely positive.

“Personally I think it was a really easy transition to [composting],” she said. “It doesn’t smell. It gets taken out every day. It is easily accessible for students on the weekend. [The residents] don’t seem to notice the change, but there is one. The trash that we take out now has decreased significantly.”

“I think that students have adopted really well to the composting program,” Dembo added, “as they should, since it really is not that difficult of a concept. Instead of scraping your plate into the trash, scrape it into the compost, two inches to the left.”

Kwan and Lee said they plan to measure the contamination in Tresidder compost bins in the next few days. FBI members will be working through the end of the week and large, instructive neon signs have been posted near trash and compost bins to help diners sort out the biodegradable material from the garbage.