Campus Dining Services and the MU Bradford Farms Research and Extension Center have collaborated to create a new composting system. The new system is designed to lower MU’s carbon footprint and more effectively manage waste materials.

Called the Zero Carbon Footprint Vegetable and Compost Production System, it is a closed-loop system that will make use of the 250 tons of food waste produced by campus dining halls every year. The food will be taken to a new facility at Bradford Farms and mixed with old horse bedding, manure and sawdust. Once composted, the mixture will be used to grow vegetables that will be sold back to CDS.

“We’ll still be buying a lot from the community,” Student Sustainability Adviser Ben Datema said.

The composting system has been in the works for about two years, Bradford Farms Superintendent Timothy Reinbott said. After some initial problems with getting a starting budget in place, work progressed quickly and there was a ribbon-cutting ceremony Nov. 18 for the new composting facility.

Although the composting system has just gotten started, Reinbott already has plans to expand the project by recycling cooking oil to make biodiesel fuel. CDS estimates it generates more than 3,000 gallons of waste vegetable oil every year, according to a release from CDS and BREC. The biodiesel would be used to power the trucks that haul the compost from campus to Bradford Farms, as well as the farm equipment used to grow the vegetables.

“Hopefully this will be implemented by the time the semester starts next January,” Reinbott said.

Aside from reducing the university’s carbon footprint and improving MU’s sustainability, the new composting system will provide research and employment opportunities for students. Reinbott hopes to have students involved in every step of the process, especially agricultural majors who would benefit from learning how to properly compost for optimal results.

“There’s a bit or art and science behind it,” Reinbott said.

He also hopes to have students involved in growing crops with the compost and even selling them back to CDS for some entrepreneurial experience. Because CDS has no need of vegetables during the longer breaks, Reinbott plans on selling the vegetables that would otherwise go to waste on the general market.

“Down the road we’re going to need to market the excess compost and vegetables,” Reinbott said.

Datema said student groups like Tigers for Community Agriculture have already expressed interest in getting involved. Most students seem to support the new measures as well.

“I’m a big proponent of recycling when you can, it’s better than just throwing the food away and wasting it,” freshman Sam Vickery said. “It’s a good idea.”