Have you ever thought about your carbon footprint? What mark are you leaving on the environment? For those IUPUI students in Riverwalk Apartments and Townhomes, their carbon footprint has the potential to be significantly reduced thanks to a new composting initiative.
Housing and Residence Life is rolling out the first portion of the initiative this February after months of planning. IUPUI students in Riverwalk will be able to sign up to compost the food scraps they create when cooking. Through a partnership with Earth Mama Compost, the food will then be made into compost, which then comes back to IUPUI for the campus garden.
The initiative came together through several on-campus groups as the Office of Sustainability, HRL, the Residence Hall Association, Graduate and Professional Student Government and Earth Mama Compost all collaborated on the final product.
“We had to make a lot of considerations,” said Zach Cramer, coordinator for programming and advising. “We had to ask ourselves, ‘Where should the compost collection bins go, how do we mitigate smell in between the bi-weekly compost pickups and how will students and roommates maintain positive relationships while having food scraps within their units?’”
For students, there is little to no risk involved in making the lifestyle change. IUPUI has gathered the collection bins and the pick-up service is scheduled, which leaves the composting education piece as the only thing students are tasked with to get started.
“We hope it's a really easy way for students to get involved and create a lifestyle change they can continue throughout their time even after IUPUI,” Cramer said.
Helping students to better understand composting and the process for living a greener life is one of three goals outlined in this initiative. HRL also hopes to have a positive impact on the surrounding natural community by producing less waste, even if it is a little bit at a time. A sustainable program would also allow students in future years to continue to partake in this initiative.
For now, the initiative will only be available to students in the Riverwalk Apartments and Townhomes due to the fact that this is the only community with kitchens. However, Cramer believes that if it is successful there might be an opportunity to offer it in other areas in the future.
To learn more about the composting initiative, students can email the Office of Sustainability.