Tulane’s Composting Potential
I asked a peer, Isabel, for her thoughts on composting:
“Why do you think composting is important?”
“It’s good for the environment,” Isabel replied.
“Can you elaborate?”
“Not really,” she responded.
Composting turns organic waste, such as food scraps, into fertilizers, which reduces carbon and methane emissions from landfills. Disposing organic waste into the trash does not allow decomposition, but composting does. Composting is a necessary and tangible step to minimize the timely and catastrophic event occurring every second on earth: global warming. Just this past summer, we experienced the hottest three months recorded in history. The earth's temperature has increased by about 2* F since 1880. This rate of temperature increase has almost doubled since 1981, demonstrating a need for change in how we consume energy and handle waste.
Composting on Tulane’s campus must be more widely discussed, understood, and implemented. Information on Tulane’s composting protocols is present but also sparse.
According to the Tulane website, students can bring their compost to a weekly drop-off point on campus. Realistically, though, how many students are dragging their compost across campus between classes? I’ve certainly never seen that. Tulane also claims that it composts excess food waste in the dining halls.
This information made me question: Is Tulane actually composting in their kitchens? I decided to check it out myself.
I started in the LBC (Tulane’s food court) and asked a woman checking students out if we had a compost for students. She responded, “A compost? I can’t tell you. Go to the information desk.” I asked a worker at Tulane Hillel (a non-profit community center and restaurant off-campus) if they have a compost, and she said, “What’s that?” I went to the Commons and asked the woman stationed for Tulane Dining Services if they have a compost system in place, and I got the same response: “What’s that?”
I asked her if I could speak with a chef, and she kindly connected me to Jon Petrie, the executive chef at the Commons. He explained to me how composting is implemented in the Commons: the only food scraps composted are fruits and vegetable scraps, and students do not have the option to compost themselves.
Everything he said aligned with what Tulane has on their website. However, Tulane leaves out that only fruits and vegetables are composted, rather than most other food groups served in the dining halls. The website also omits to disclose that students cannot participate in any form of composting in the dining halls.
Tulane’s efforts seemed underwhelming, granted the number of resources. However, I considered that I grew up in San Francisco, where composting is integrated into all parts of daily life. According to Green Matters, San Francisco is the #1 city in the nation for composting.
In San Francisco, separating your compost, recycling, and trash from one another is mandatory. The city provides all residents with a green can (compost), black can (trash), and blue can (recycling), which are picked up weekly outside of one’s home or business. The green composting bins are for soiled paper, food, and plants. The contents of the bins are then transformed into nutrient-rich soil that local farms utilize.
From a young age, children learn in school about composting practices. Students learn the benefits, correct execution, and rewarding feeling of participating in a greater movement.
At my high school, Marin Academy, it was expected to separate your food and waste at the end of each lunch period. It also was expected to hold your friends accountable and remind them to compost. These norms seem idyllic relative to the current protocols on Tulane’s campus.
I contacted Liz Gottlieb, an environmental science and biology teacher at my high school. Marin Academy has a thorough and effective composting system in place.
She explained how privileged institutions like Tulane should serve as a model for society's aspirations. The institution can be the experiment, and we are the leaders within. As a community, we must continue growing our practices, critiquing our system, and allowing ourselves to fail. This is a difficult task and bound to have ups and downs, but moving forward after failure is necessary because each addition to the system produces more substantial outcomes along the way.
I agree with this, but I also understand that New Orleans has a different system than San Francisco, so implementing it will be more challenging. New Orleans has less access to composting throughout the city, and composting is also not expected by the city.
Additionally, Tulane holds high geographic diversity, with 43 states represented by the undergraduate student body. This means students come to campus with a wide range of prior knowledge about this issue. Some students are taught from a young age the importance, practice, and benefits of composting. Others need to be educated or encouraged to take part.
However, Tulane, as an institution, has the resources, capacity, and intelligence across our community to make the campus an example and serve as a role model for the greater New Orleans community. We can implement this by:
Education: Include composting practices in the first-year students' orientation. Have more signs across campus indicating composting practices and locations.
Relationships: Work with composting services that allow composting more than just fruits and vegetable scraps.
Access: Give students an accessible chance to compost themselves. Leave compost bins in every dorm, dining hall, classroom, and walkways.
Gardens: Offer more service options for creating new composting gardens around campus.
Students are bound to make mistakes when deciding what to compost, but Tulane needs to allow students to do so. Limited options to compost prevent students from learning from their mistakes to execute correctly in the future and eventually feel comfortable holding their peers accountable.
San Francisco is a model for the country, but Tulane can be, too.
Citations:
Dahlman, Rebecca Lindsey AND LuAnn. “Climate Change: Global Temperature.” NOAA Climate.Gov, www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-temperature#:~:text=Highlights,0.18%C2%B0%20C)%20per%20decade. Accessed 26 Sept. 2023.
Gabay, Aimee. “This Was the Hottest Summer Ever Recorded on Earth.” Space.Com, Space, 14 Sept. 2023, www.space.com/earth-hottest-summer-on-record.
Hu, Shelia. “Composting 101.” Be a Force for the Future, 20 July 2020, www.nrdc.org/stories/composting-101#whatis.
“Tulane University of Louisiana Diversity: Racial Demographics & Other Stats.” College Factual, College Factual, 22 Mar. 2023, www.collegefactual.com/colleges/tulane-university-of-louisiana/student-life/diversity/#google_vignette.
“Recycling & Composting in San Francisco - Faqs.” Sfenvironment.Org - Our Home. Our City. Our Planet, 24 July 2023, sfenvironment.org/recycling-composting-faqs.
Rosenberg, Lizzy. “These Are the Biggest Composting Cities in the U.S.” Green Matters, Green Matters, 17 Nov. 2020, www.greenmatters.com/p/top-composting-cities#:~:text=San%20Francisco%2C%20Calif.&text=The%20top%20composting%20city%20in,percent%20landfill%20diversion%20in%202000.