Wetherell Uses Bins to Show Compost Process
Wetherell Dining Hall installed two large compost bins last Wednesday in a new pilot program to make the dining halls more sustainable.
According to Sustainability Education Coordinator Jason BreMiller, Exeter composted 146 tons of food in the past year. By having Exonians discard their leftovers themselves and making the compost process more accessible, the dining hall staff hopes to better educate the Exeter community about important sustainability practices.
Once compost is collected, the food waste is transferred to an anaerobic digestion plant and is converted into electricity, while remaining solid waste is used in the agricycle. “Our community can make a difference and create electricity from our food waste,” Wetherell Manager Heidi Dumont said. “However we want to encourage to be in the clean plate club. Take what you want, eat what you take.”
Dumont elaborated that this composting initiative is part of the dining hall’s larger sustained effort to collaborate with students in developing more environmentally-friendly practices. Just last year, Elm and Wetherell worked with the Environmental Proctor Dining Hall Committee to conduct a school-wide food waste audit.
Due to the secluded location of the compost facility, few students were aware of the dining hall’s previous efforts to compost. “Dining halls have actually been composting for several years, but it has not been very publicized,” upper and Environmental Action Committee co-head Anneleise Cowles said.
Upper Bea Burack hopes the revised compost procedure will help the Exeter community become more environmentally aware. “The more involved students and faculty are in the disposal of our waste, the more aware we will be of the amount of food we are wasting and where it’s going,” she said. “Scraping our own plates is a great way to bridge that gap.”
Lower Russell Tam expressed high hopes for the initiative. “Because of the high student population, the little leftovers can accumulate to huge amounts, having compost will definitely help reduce the waste that Exeter produces,” Tam said.
However, upper Nicolas Pham questioned how beneficial the new initiative will be. “I don’t know if it will have an effect on if people waste more or less food,” Pham said.
Regardless of the amount, BreMiller expressed appreciation for the visibility this pilot will bring to the composting process. “I’ll be curious to see if it affects the actual total amount that we are composting, but the educational value of this model can be impactful to the student body and to the broader community because they are now being asked to participate in the process,” he said.
Looking ahead to the future of composting and sustainability at Exeter, Cowles voiced her desire to see individual Exonians making more environmentally-conscientious decisions to combat climate change. “I think that students are still responsible for making changes in their own lives beyond what the school is doing,” Cowles said. “Everyone on campus should be thinking about how they can make their lives more sustainable.”
Upper Erin McCann agreed, suggesting that “Exonians should contact their local representatives and voice their concerns about climate change.” She added, “the only way to enact real and lasting climate solutions is through government.”
While the pilot may not visibly make a big difference, BreMiller stated that it is an important step in the right direction of building a more sustainable Exeter. “When you’re confronted [with] the composting bin right in front of you, it acts as a small reminder about how much food we use and where our food goes. In and of itself, it is not that big of a deal. However, the totality of regular encounters like this is what I think begins to shift culture,” BreMiller said.