The University of South Florida St. Pete’s campus will soon be composting food scraps and other organic waste, reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills and producing nutrient-rich fertilizer for the university’s maintenance crew.
Program Details
- The program aims to compost 2,100 to 2,700 pounds of food waste initially each week from the campus.
- The university will use a $358,735 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Composting and Food Waste Reduction program to help pay for the industrial-sized composter.
- The grant also requires the city to co-apply for it, and the St. Petersburg City Council unanimously approved it on Thursday.
Goals and Benefits
The program has several goals, including reducing food waste sent to landfills, producing nutrient-rich fertilizer, and educating students about sustainable practices.
“This program will look to compost 2,100 to 2,700 pounds of food waste initially each week from the campus,” said Maeven Rogers, the director of the City of St. Pete Sustainability and Resilience.
“That food waste will be turned into fertilizer, which then the University of South Florida maintenance crew will purchase off of the composting initiative, and they will be using that to mitigate chemical fertilizer on their campus,” Rogers said at a council meeting Thursday.
James Ivey, an associate professor of instruction in environmental science, said the program will not only reduce waste but also provide students with a hands-on learning experience.
“We ultimately would like to expand it and continue working with the city, working with our partners and maybe making a bigger operation so that we can basically close the circle here in St. Pete where food waste is not something that we ship off to the landfill, which is better than just burying it,” said Ivey.
Ivey said the program will also help offset carbon emissions from burning or burying the waste.
Collaboration and Expansion Plans
The university is already in talks with local farmers and businesses to collaborate on the program.
They’re already in talks with the Saturday Morning Market and 15th Street Farm as potential collaborators.
“Students get a really neat opportunity to start their own business and see how it can be economically viable in the future,” said Rogers.
The school is considering purchasing a composter from companies such as BioCoTech Americas and EcoRich.
Investment and Staffing
The university will use a $100,000 from the school’s green energy fund and a $50,000 gift from Duke Energy to eventually pay student workers.
They also hope to hire an employee to manage the program.
“As an instructor, my biggest joy is seeing the students and seeing them accomplish stuff and what they learn from it,” said Ivey.
Timeline
Ivey said they hope to buy the composter within the next six months and have the program on campus by next fall.
The program is open to any student who wants to participate.
“It’s open to any student who wants to participate, and we encourage students to get involved and help make a difference,” said Ivey.
Quote from James Ivey
“Students get a really neat opportunity to start their own business and see how it can be economically viable in the future. A step above that would be to reuse that waste in a way that we can also offset fertilizers and offset the carbon emissions that would come from burning it or burying it. As an instructor, my biggest joy is seeing the students and seeing them accomplish stuff and what they learn from it. And so, this is another aspect we can use, not only for the environmental aspects, the sustainability aspects of it, but also for the educational aspects and the benefit it will give to my students for their future career choices.”
| Company | Grant Amount |
|---|---|
| BioCoTech Americas | $358,735 |
| EcoRich | $50,000 |
The university is considering partnering with companies to purchase a composter, including BioCoTech Americas and EcoRich.
The grant funding will also be used to hire a student worker to manage the program.
The school is also considering using the composted fertilizer to help mitigate chemical fertilizers on campus.
The goal is to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills and produce nutrient-rich fertilizer for the university’s maintenance crew.