{"id":1995,"date":"2012-01-25T09:00:53","date_gmt":"2012-01-25T17:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=1995"},"modified":"2012-01-27T11:54:33","modified_gmt":"2012-01-27T19:54:33","slug":"camosun-expands-compost-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2012\/01\/25\/camosun-expands-compost-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Camosun expands compost program"},"content":{"rendered":"

On January 9, students at Lansdowne campus were welcomed back with the gift of an expanded compost program. While the rest of us were sleeping off the winter-break binge, Camosun students, faculty and physical-resources staff were hard at work getting new composters installed at the school\u2019s waste-management stations.<\/p>\n

The little green boxes may seem insignificant, but they\u2019re a triumph to those involved with the compost program.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a dream come true,\u201d says Camosun College Student Society sustainability director Richard Kao, who has been working to get the program off the ground since 2010. \u201cAfter two years, it\u2019s done. It\u2019s a relief.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Haj Bains and Samuel Jan, the two students who collect green bin waste (photo by Carol-Lynne Michaels\/Nexus).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Environmental technology chair Anna Colangeli says Camosun\u2019s compost program is important because of the oncoming CRD ban of organics in the landfill. The program has met this challenge by centralizing the system. Organic waste in the compost bins gets diverted to a dozen anaerobic digesters scattered around campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll that waste is not going to the landfill, it\u2019s decomposing here on campus,\u201d says Colangeli.<\/p>\n

Now that the boxes are installed around campus, the trick is getting students to use the composters frequently and effectively.<\/p>\n

\u201cI, for sure, will use the compost,\u201d says first-year visual arts student Brianna Quinsey.<\/p>\n

But others don\u2019t share the same enthusiasm. Some students say they aren\u2019t clear on exactly how the system works.<\/p>\n

\u201cI noticed it yesterday and I wanted to know what I was supposed to do with my banana peel,\u201d says university transfer student John Little. \u201cThere\u2019s no information. No pictures or words on the front of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colangeli says that answering these concerns is the current priority.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next phase is going to be the education component,\u201d she says. \u201cMaking sure that everybody buys into this, so that nobody puts any compostable matter into the garbage. The beauty of the anaerobic digesters is that any organics can go in. Cooked food, greasy food, dairy products, bones\u0143it can all go in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The compost program makes for an eco-friendly campus, and it also contributes to the student job market. Samuel Jan is one of two students who have been hired to collect the green bin waste, which, due to the sometimes unpleasant nature of organics, is a daily routine. Jan says that the program has seen some success.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still working out the kinks,\u201d says Jan, \u201cbut I think it\u2019s been pretty successful. It\u2019s a concept that not every student has regularly practiced or is aware of. But it\u2019s a great kick-start.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colangeli is also impressed by the response to the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so successful here, our plan is to get something like this at Interurban,\u201d she says. \u201cAfter so many false starts over the years, we\u2019ve finally got something off the ground that looks sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On January 9, students at Lansdowne campus were welcomed back with the gift of an expanded compost program. While the rest of us were sleeping off the winter-break binge, Camosun students, faculty and physical-resources staff were hard at work getting new composters installed at the school\u2019s waste-management stations. The little green boxes may seem insignificant, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2095,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-january-25-2012"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1995"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2096,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1995\/revisions\/2096"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}