WEBVTT 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:07.000 [Paulina Hruskoci] Hi, my name is Paulina Hruskoci. 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:10.000 I'm an Eco Rep for the UT Dallas Sustainability Office 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:14.000 and also a Senator on Student Government's Green Initiative. 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:17.000 Today I have an exclusive interview with Genna Campain, 00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:21.000 the committee chair of Student Government's Green Initiative. 00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:23.000 She's going to be answering some questions 00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:26.000 about the Comet Composting program here at UT Dallas. 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:28.000 Welcome Jenna. 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:34.000 My first question for you today is, why should we compost? 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:39.000 [Genna Campain] An estimated 40% of the food in the United States doesn't actually go towards feeding people. 00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:42.000 Instead it ends up in landfills, and this means that 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:45.000 any of the resources put into growing that food 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:49.000 --including water, fertilizer, soil nutrients-- 00:00:49.000 --> 00:00:53.000 all those resources are wasted when the food isn't actually used. 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:56.000 Composting allows some reclamation of these resources 00:00:56.000 --> 00:01:00.000 by returning the nutrients in the food back into the soil. 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:03.500 So basically the first thing that we need to do is reduce food waste, 00:01:03.500 --> 00:01:05.500 But composting gives us a great alternative 00:01:05.500 --> 00:01:08.000 for not completely wasting the food 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:11.000 when there is no alternative use for it. 00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:14.000 [Paulina Hruskoci] That was a great answer. Thanks for the insight. 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:16.000 My next question is, can you provide a brief history 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:21.000 of the background of Comet Composting here at UT Dallas? 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:26.000 [Genna Campain] Composting at UTD began in 2012 when Dining Services started composting 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:31.500 any food scraps coming from the dining halls that were used when cooking 00:01:31.500 --> 00:01:33.000 the food that's served to students. 00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:37.000 And then since then, composting in the dining hall has been expanded. 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:43.000 It has been expanded to include any napkins or any food waste 00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:45.000 that students have still on their plates 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:48.000 when they go to turn their plates in to be washed. 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:50.000 So if you've been in the dining hall lately, 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:54.000 you've seen their huge bins, right by the food wash station, 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:58.000 and those all go towards composting instead of the landfill. 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:05.000 Then in 2018, composting was expanded to include University Village residents, 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:08.000 who were provided with a bin and a place to put their compost 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:13.000 so that it could go to be composted by a company off-campus. 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:19.000 And this program has continued to expand in the years since 2018. 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:25.000 Now it includes any interested staff or faculty members. Offices on campus can participate, 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:28.000 as well as students who don't necessarily live on campus. 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:36.000 So Housing and Dining Services provide those compost collection services 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:40.000 and then UT Dallas Student Government provides the bins 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:43.000 that are given out to anyone interested in doing composting on campus. 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:47.000 [Paulina Hruskoci] So now the question that everyone's probably wondering: 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:49.000 Where does the compost go? 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:53.000 [Genna Campain] Any food collected in the on-campus composting program 00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:56.000 is sent to a company called Organix. 00:02:56.000 --> 00:03:01.000 This makes it so that we can compost things that you can't traditionally compost in a backyard compost bin 00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:07.000 --including meat products, dairy products, cardboard-- 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:11.000 It just it allows us to compost a lot more things, 00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:15.000 and when you're cooking for all sorts of people on campus, 00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:21.000 it really allows us to make sure that we are minimizing our food waste going to the landfill. 00:03:21.000 --> 00:03:26.000 Additionally, the company that we compost with is called Organix 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:30.000 and they work in accordance with the food recovery hierarchy 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:35.000 which basically tries to find the most efficient use of the food possible. 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:40.000 So if we have some really good food scraps 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:42.000 that can still be used to feed either feed other people 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:44.000 or they can be used to feed animals, 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:50.000 Organix will send the food there before they actually turn it into compost, 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:53.000 which is kind of the lowest level of that high hierarchy. 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:58.000 [Paulina Hruskoci] If a student wanted to get involved with Comet Composting, what should they do? 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:01.000 [Genna Campain] If you're interested in getting involved in composting on campus, 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:04.000 the best way to do it is through the Common Composting program, 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:08.000 Where you will be provided a bin, you'll be trained, 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:12.000 and then you won't have to try and compost the food yourself 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:13.500 or do anything like that. 00:04:13.500 --> 00:04:17.000 All you have to do is put it in a bin just like you would your trash, 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:20.000 and Organix will come and collect that and take care of it. 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:25.000 So basically all you need to do to join the program is come to a Comet Composting training. 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:33.000 We run those through Student Government about every two weeks during the semester. 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:35.000 We put signs up all over. 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:39.000 It'll be advertised on all of the Sustainability social media pages, 00:04:39.000 --> 00:04:42.000 so just check those out if you're interested in getting involved. 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:45.000 The training takes about 20 minutes. 00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:48.000 We'll walk you through how to you use your compost bin, 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:52.000 we'll walk you through anything relevant to composting at UTD. 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:55.500 we'll walk you through what you can and can't compost, 00:04:55.500 --> 00:05:00.000 and then we'll give you your bin and you will be set to start composting. 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:04.000 [Paulina Hruskoci] Thanks so much. Jenna, I just have one more question for you today: 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:10.000 What are some last tips that you have for someone that wants to start composting at home? 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:12.000 [Genna Campain] If you're looking to start composting at home, 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:14.000 the first thing I would say is don't be intimidated. 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:17.000 You can do a lot with a small outdoor space 00:05:17.000 --> 00:05:20.000 and most of composting happens without any input from you. 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:24.000 It's just food breaking down in your backyard. 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:28.000 As long as you water it and just do whatever other maintenance it needs, 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:32.000 There's really not a lot of work that you need to put into it, 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:35.000 in terms of actually setting up your compost bin. 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:39.000 in terms of what you can compost, check out YouTube. 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:43.000 There are a lot of great videos that go into setting up a compost bin 00:05:43.000 --> 00:05:47.000 that make it really easy and a lot less intimidating than it may seem. 00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:50.000 [Paulina Hruskoci] Well, you heard it here first folks. 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:55.000 That's the Comet Composting program with Genna Campain. Thanks for watching.