Flagler students get a lesson in composting, recycling

Students at Flagler College are looking at garbage in a different light.

Professor Susan Risko's environmental science course is aimed at curbing the amount of debris ending up in landfills.

About 40 students participated in Zero Waste Week, a project challenging them to live sustainably by practicing the four R's: Refuse, reduce, reuse and recycle.

"Refuse" refers to rejecting items that have superfluous packaging while "reduce" means minimizing unnecessary consumption.

"Once you become aware of exactly how much we throw away, your whole perspective changes," sophomore Rose Rossi said.

Risko said her course is listed under general education and attracts many students outside the sciences. Rossi, an English major, is redefining her concept of waste.

"You begin to actively seek out ways to reduce waste altogether, so that essentially we can continue to live on this planet," she said. "It's a scary concept, but very real."

The two-phase initiative on campus was organized by Risko.

Between March 17 and 24, students recorded their waste, categorized as "trashed" (for waste taken to an area landfill), "recycled," "reused" or "composted."

Phase two took it to the next level.

Students will continue recording waste through today, but have now made a concerted effort to reduce their amount of landfill-bound waste to zero. The purpose is to see the difference a little thoughtfulness can make.

Extra credit

Since many students didn't have access to recycling pick-up, the class designated "ambassadors" to collect and recycle plastic, glass, cardboard and aluminum items. The ultimate goal was to not send anything to the landfill.

Additionally, those willing to get up early Sunday morning got a hands-on lesson in composting at the Lincolnville Community Garden.

Cash McVay, garden manager, also offered the community compost pile as a haven for students' accumulated food scraps.

"I'm really excited about how this project is reaching out to the community and engaging students in their environment," Risko said.

The community garden took root in 2010 with about 20 garden boxes and has since expanded to about 55.

McVay said Lincolnville's tree cover density and lack of sunlight created the need for a place where residents could grow vegetables.

The Lincolnville Community Garden meets Sunday mornings, weather permitting, to maintain the garden and make compost. Members are encouraged to bring food scraps, excluding meat, dairy and bread.

Risko said the benefit of composting is that food scraps and biodegradeables in a landfill slow the breakdown process of everything else. But it can take four to six weeks for compost to become fertile soil for use in a garden.

"We're actually able to use this rather than lose it by (sending it) to a landfill," she said.

Piled high

Risko was inspired to launch the project after reading an article years ago about someone who attempted the same mission, but for an entire year.

"I was amazed at the concept and started putting limits on my own trash habit," she said. "If I didn't trash it, I recycled, reused or composted."

The guiding principle of Zero Waste Week is that with enough imagination, almost any item can be repurposed.

Sophomore Somer Feeheley used an empty supplements container for holding pens and pencils and a Tory Burch shoebox to stash school papers.

"It takes some creativity and getting used to it when it comes to repurposing," Risko said.

She also gave students 10-inch by 10-inch reusable hand towels to use in place of paper towels.

One of the challenges of being environmentally conscious is that many people aren't used to seeing others take those extra steps.

Feeheley said her towel attracted a lot of funny looks and stares out in public. When she whipped it out at a Starbucks, someone asked her what she was doing.

"She was super-concerned about my blue towel," she said, adding it did bring awareness.

After turning the compost, touring the garden and asking questions of McVay and other seasoned gardeners, students discussed extra credit possibilities with Risko.

"I say 'no extra credit,'" sophomore Troy MacNeill said. "It's all for the environment."

This was the first year of the sustainability initiative at Flagler.