March 2007 Update

• Since Spring 2006, Brown Dining has been composting 64,000 pounds (32 tons) with Red Planet Vegetables.
• Composting with Hill Orchards began in Winter 2007.
• Over the course of 2007, we expect to compost about 250,000 pounds (125 tons).

What’s the current system?

• Pre-prep food scraps go to a local pig farm
• Cooked food that is never served is donated to local soup kitchens, charities, food pantries, etc.
• BUT: any food you put on a tray and do not eat goes straight to a landfill

• After the Harvest is working to institute a composting system for food waste in the cafeteria
• Compost is the process of breaking down food waste to enrich soil.
• This reduces the amount of waste Brown sends to the landfill and also helps local farmers

On November 15, 2005, your food waste will be composted. Otherwise, until After the Harvest succeeds in getting a long-term system in place, your uneaten food will be put in the trash.

What can you do and why does it matter?

• Reduce uneaten food by taking smaller portions and planning ahead about what you will realistically eat before you put it on your plate.

Remember, you can always go back for more.

• Landfills are designed to be stuffed to capacity and then capped. Like other waste in landfills, food does not really decompose. In the anaerobic environment, bacteria digest food waste into greenhouse gases and a leftover acidic juice. These acidic remains can cause toxics from neighboring waste items to bleed into the soils and groundwater beneath the landfill.
• Composting creates moist new soil from nutrient-rich food waste, much of which was energy intensive to originally produce. In aerobic composting conditions, bacteria and worms also break down the waste without any net increase in greenhouse gases.
• The less you waste:
• the more Brown can donate to local charities
• the less food Brown needs to buy, reducing your meal costs
• the less Brown sends to the landfill, reducing our ecological impact

Take what you'll eat and eat what you take.