On Sept. 25, the ASCP and its Auraria Campus partners celebrated a ribbon cutting for the campus’ first-ever facility dedicated to composting organic materials, which will be reused as soil for landscaping. The site will help the the Auraria Sustainable Campus Program (ASCP) reach its goal of keeping 35% of campus waste out of landfills by the end of 2024.
Spearheaded by the ASCP, a tri-institutional, student-fee funded program, and with help from CU Denver Facilities Management team members, among others, the in-vessel composter at the western edge of campus is expected to process between 200,000 to 300,000 pounds of organic material annually—or about 900 pounds each day. That compost will come from bins across the Auraria Campus and located in all CU Denver buildings (a sustainability initiative that passed in 2020).
Jim Nelson, associate director of building, maintenance, and operations, expressed his enthusiasm for the environmental benefits of the campus composting program and his gratitude for the community’s involvement. “Composting reduces landfill methane emissions, decreases the need for chemical fertilizers, and conserves water,” Nelson said. “Simply segregating waste at the bins can have a significant environmental impact.”
The facility is funded by a Recycling Resources Economic Opportunity (RREO) grant of roughly $123,000 from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) and a $3 increase in student fees through a compost referendum passed in 2020.
Cassy Cadwallader, ASCP’s director of sustainability, said the composter is a step towards making the Auraria Campus a closed-loop system, which means waste is reduced by reusing and recycling products. In this case, materials collected in buildings will go back to the campus as compost for its many outdoor spaces.
The composting process involves a lot of work, most of which will be handled by students. “[They are] out there every single day, in the snow, in the sleet, in the rain, in the sunshine, sorting waste, looking at mold and maggots,” Cadwallader said. “We get the delight of learning all of the trials and tribulations. … We are excited to pave the way for other people to learn [and] grow from our lessons.”
Click here for more information about composting on the Auraria campus.