The Campus Center at Indiana University has embarked upon a new initiative to keep pre-consumer food waste - that is, the food like melon rinds or vegetables that have gone bad before it ever gets to the consumer - from ending up in the landfill. By working with organizations to haul the food waste and turn it into compost, mulch and soil, the center has begun chipping away at the two tons of food waste it produces each month.
In 2016, the Office of Sustainability and Butler University co-applied and won a $50,000 Sustainable Campus Competition Grant from Kimberly-Clark for a program which would have the schools share the costs of hauling food waste to a composting facility. The grant money was used to build a food-waste reduction program at both universities. Funds covered the cost of being added to a food waste pickup route, new green bins for food waste, and a new dumpster.
Ray’s Trash Service picks up the waste and brings it to GreenCycle, which turns it into mulch and soil; the university then buys the soil for its campus gardens.
The collaboration with Butler has, as hoped, helped keep the cost of the program down, and two new schools - Ivy Tech and Marian University - have been added to the program to further share costs, according to the university. Indianapolis Public Schools has expressed interest in participating in the program, as well.
