Composting Project
The university has been composting food preparation scraps from both dining halls on campus since spring semester 2003. In addition, two local businesses- The Collegiate and the Terra Cotta Coffeeshop- began participating in the AU composting project during spring semester 2004.
The infamous compost-mobile- a red '74 Chevy pickup- makes its rounds to Ade, Powell, The Collegiate, and the Coffeeshop three times per week to pick up bins of food scraps and used coffee grounds. The bins are then transported to the Alfred State Farm, where they are emptied into a pile in one of the ten compost receptacles on the farm. A new pile is started each semester, and the previous semester's pile is covered with mulch and other dry organic material. During the (few) snow-free months of the year, the interior temperatures of both the previous semester's pile and the current semester's pile are recorded at each visit.
Currently, three students, Erin Letovsky, Chris Sharkey (pictured above), and Larry Deis pilot the composting operation at Alfred.
