Associated Students Kicks Off Post-consumer Composting Pilot on Campus

Students working with AS Director of Sustainability Brooke Harrington set up an informational booth for students in the cafeteria on May 14, 2019 at Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California. (Oskar Zinnemann / The Corsair)

Volunteers for the Associated Students’ (A.S.) initiative to implement post-consumer composting on campus began holding their “pilot” event on Monday, May 13 in the Santa Monica College (SMC) cafeteria. The volunteers aimed to clarify common misconceptions about composting, and to persuade students to keep in mind whether their waste would be compostable.

A group of volunteers sat at their booth at the end of the cafeteria, flanked by colorful posters and infographics on the table before them. As other students passed by, the most vibrant sign caught their attention.

“Composting Pilot in Progress,” it read.

This sliver of interest was all the volunteers needed to educate passersby's about campus composting.

Volunteers for the Associated Students’ (A.S.) initiative to implement post-consumer composting on campus began holding their “pilot” event on Monday, May 13 in the Santa Monica College (SMC) cafeteria. The volunteers aimed to clarify common misconceptions about composting, and to persuade students to keep in mind whether their waste would be compostable.

Director of Sustainability Brooke Harrington spearheaded the initiative the day she took office in September 2018, and this week-long event was the first major step in improving composting practices on campus.

“SMC needs post-consumer composting bins in the cafeteria because it is frankly not enough that our foodware is ‘compostable’ if it just ends up in the landfill,” said Harrington. She emphasized that the college should closely monitor whether foodware purchased by cafeteria vendors met the necessary standards to be deemed compostable.

Sustainability Commissioner Jasmine Warren elaborated that the current composting practices at SMC were limited to pre-consumer composting, meaning strict criteria that limits what can be composted.

“The ones we have at the school right now are pre-consumer compost which means that the foods cannot be cooked in oils. They cannot be salted, no dairy, animal products, meats, anything like that,” said Warren. “Those are great, but we don’t have anything at the school where all of our food can be composted."

Although the process of planning post-consumer composting on campus had taken longer than usual due to logistic contracting issues, Warren is confident in its implementation because of the administration’s support for the project.

“That goal has not been met to its completion, though it’s on the books for the future,” said Warren.

Warren believes the project will keep flourishing under the new A.S. board, because Hunter Baoengstrum, Harrington’s primary Commissioner, was elected as the next Director of Sustainability in the last A.S. elections.

“He’s already really familiar with the process we’ve been going through and what we’ve been doing,” said Warren.

When it comes to the current pilot itself, Warren believes that the combined volunteering efforts of different student clubs and environmental classes would help in ensuring progress for the initiative.

“I believe that the longer we do it the better our results will be because more people would know about it,” Warren said.

Overall, Harrington asserts that the implementation of post-consumer composting would be beneficial in the long term for SMC. “If every plate, bowl, cup, lid, and utensil served to students were truly compostable, then the school could significantly reduce our monthly trash hauling fee and reduce our waste in all aspects as well," she explained.

The post-consumer composting pilot can be found at the cafeteria from May 13 to May 24.