Environment and Politics – Section 03 Project CCI Campus Composting Initiative Ryan Bailey, Melanie Cady, Anna Thonis, and Natalie Yap 13 Table of Contents Opening ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 2 Aims, Location, Site Justification and Organization---------------------------------------------- Page 3 Potential for Scaling Up and Out -------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 5 Related Projects and Involved Organizations ----------------------------------------------------- Page 8 Rationale ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 10 Project Design and Context ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Page 11 Closing ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Page 17 Works Cited ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Page 19 1 Opening Following paper waste, food waste is the second largest volume of waste produced in the United States, and the main wasters of this food are college students. The buffet-style dining that college campuses utilize is a great way to satisfy every student’s food needs and wants, however this leads to a massive amount of food waste, and now, with sustainable living growing in popularity, students are taking the initiative to cut back on food waste all across the U.S. A study at American University found that, over a six-day period, tray-free dining reduced food waste by 32%.1 That is a simple step towards a more sustainable campus that is incredibly easy to implement and a step that would make a huge difference in the sustainability of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute if implemented on campus. Trays allow students to pick up more food; when allowed, students pick up, on average, 2.5 times the amount of food than they will actually eat since they can carry so much on a tray.2 Another effort beginning to be made more and more frequently is composting the food waste in college campus dining halls because even if trays are not used, food waste is inevitable. The article “Youth Fighting Food Waste on College Campuses” highlights some of the key benefits of composting, explaining how it is “enriching the soil and reducing methane gas emissions.”3 According to the Environmental Protection Agency, only 3% of the thirty-million metric tons of food waste generated in 2010 was composted. That shocking and upsetting percent is expected to grow as more and more college campuses begin to implement a composting system, as well as eliminate tray use which will reduce food waste overall. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has four main dining halls as well as numerous cafes and ultimately, food waste runs high on the campus of the Engineers. The statistics noted above are only some of the shocking numbers that are associated with the high 1 Jameson, Charlotte Ibid 3 Ibid 2 2 amount of food waste that college campuses continue to produce. Although food waste is a problem at RPI, as it is for virtually every college campus in the nation, RPI does utilize various sustainable activities such as green roofing over buildings like the Student Union. Green roofing acts as another layer of insulation and so it lowers building heating and cooling costs. It also reduces air pollution, water runoff, and increases biodiversity. By implementing green roofs across campus, RPI can largely reduce its carbon footprint and overall become a much more sustainable school. Green roofing initiatives taken by RPI require maintenance and fertilizer in order to keep the plant life healthy and by utilizing a compost system with the dining halls, RPI can generate its own compost to use on the green roofs, forming one complete circle of sustainable living on campus from food waste to food regrowth. Aims, Location, Site Justification and Organization Through the implementation of Project CCI, RPI will be more sustainable and thus more energy efficient. The project is essentially three ideas combined into one. First, it aims to reduce the amount of paper towel and napkin waste that is sent to landfills. Second, because these paper products cannot be recycled, a composting site near Robison Field will be established to compost the paper waste. Finally, using the compost from the paper products and food scraps, the project aims to establish and develop “green roofs” on the roofs of buildings that consume the most energy. Accomplishing all of these tasks will make Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute more environmentally-friendly. Establishing a compost pile near Robison field will not only help to reduce waste, but it will also make compost which makes soil very rich in nutrients. This compost could be used as fertilizer on fields all across the RPI campus if it grew large enough. 3 Since the compost contains paper products, it could be used in place of the fertilizer that is used currently because it contains lower levels of chemical contaminants, thus compost made on campus will provide the needed nutrients for the plants to grow without the harm or expense of chemicals.4 The main goal of the compost is to use it as fertilizer on the green roofs the project aims to implement. The nutrient-rich soil will sustain plant life well, making for an efficient roof that absorbs heat energy well. These green roofs will reduce the cost required to cool and heat buildings by up to 20%.5 The project will need four people to do specialized tasks in overseeing the development of the project. The first individual would be in charge of the composting portion of the project. This individual will inform janitors of the extra tasks this composting is going to require. He or she would work with administrators to decide the best location for the compost pile, and would detail the infrastructure needed to begin composting on campus. The second team member would advocate for the implementation of a composting system. He or she might put up fliers around campus, put an advertisement on RPI’s radio station or in the newspaper, and may do so with the assistance of some the previously mentioned stakeholders. The main goal of this person is to tell students and teachers who are interested in the sustainability of the RPI campus about what the project aims to accomplish, how it is being accomplished, and why it is important. A third person would be in charge of the green roof portion of the project. He or she would be responsible for researching what plants should go on the roof, compiling a list of contacts of businesses which can design and construct green roofs, and deciding what buildings a green roof could be built upon with RPI administration. The fourth person would be in charge of managing 4 5 Resources Klinkenborg 4 the project’s information. An accountant who could manage our money effectively would be required in this department in order to keep our finances in order. The accountant would keep track of the costs required to do all of these things, and may try to get RPI on board with our solution using evidence that exemplifies the cost-effectiveness of beginning a composting system on campus, and details the benefits of developing other green roofs around campus. This person may also note dates on which important steps in the project were taken. Defining these positions is the first step in turning this idea into a reality. Potential for Scaling Up and Out What must be established first is some sort of compost collection system that is integrated into the already existing waste disposal system. After establishing a system in which compost on campus can be collected and then processed locally, meaning on or nearby the RPI campus, compost produced can then be utilized for the maintenance of many plants around campus. The ideal location for this on-campus compost site would be between 17 Street and Burdett Avenue, in the park near Robison field. There is a good amount of unused space that can be easily converted into a compost site. According to RPI’s Sustainability Report conducted in 2003, “half of the garbage [produced by the RPI campus], by weight, was recyclable, and the other half was compost. Garbage removal is estimated to cost $150-160 per ton.6 Sufficient recycling is calculated to save between $50,000 and $125,000 each year.”7 From this data, one can deduce that RPI would be diverting between 330-780 tons of waste from landfills a year. The money saved by not sending all the recyclable and compostable waste to a landfill would be used to fund the development of a composting system on campus. The most feasible type of composting 6 7 Raju Ibid 5 that RPI can implement would be in-vessel composting. This requires the purchase of large containers that can regulate the specific heat and air flow necessary for the contents to decompose. The cost of commercial-sized in-vessel compost containers range from $18,00075,000 per vessel.8 This, however, is dependent on size of the container and costs to set up the container. Although those initial costs are seemingly large, the containers still cost less than the amount usually spent on sending the waste to landfills. Once the composting containers are established, the heat generated by the decomposition of the waste, and the gas produced as well, can more easily be harvested, or captured, and used as an energy source than if the compost heat was not contained. As the campus begins to use this composting system more and actively begins to sort the waste, there will be an increase in compostable material that would need to be processed. In-vessel composting is a viable solution to this diverted waste because another vessel can easily be purchased if the ones currently in use are not large enough to hold all of the compostable waste. The initial costs may appear high, but in the long run, RPI will be saving money on diverting waste from the landfills through recycling and composting, and will continue to develop as a more sustainable campus. To expand on Project CCI, other schools could adopt similar methods of integrating compost as part of their waste collection. By having locally established compost processors, meaning an area for a compost heap to reside, instead of sending the waste away, the schools will be able to deal with their own waste and turn it into something more useful by means of composting. By ensuring that the compost would stay local, the fertilizer produced after the decomposition of the wasted materials can easily go back to benefit the community from which it came. Also heat produced from the decomposition process can be captured and used for energy production. “Hot compost piles can reach 160 degrees Fahrenheit, which is considerably 8 Raju 6 higher than the 120 degrees Fahrenheit that the U.S. Department of Energy suggests for a hot water heater setting.”9 Compost heaps are viable source for energy production that should be taken into consideration now. In some cities around the country, there are well developed composting programs already in place. These would include Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco. In Portland, garbage disposal is only collected every other week. This encourages citizens to reduce the amount of waste they produce as well as what kind of waste they produce. In San Francisco, it is mandatory for all residents and businesses to have signed up for composting, as a step to achieving the goal of “zero-waste” by 2020. Composting in those cities has proven to decrease waste disposal costs, since composting services are not only cheaper than garbage disposal in the long run, but they help to better the development of each area. Expanding this project to areas that are similar in size to that RPI, population and area wise, will take effort to integrate; however the development and implementation of the process is not impossible. If established composting systems can exist and thrive in densely populated urban areas, then composting can definitely exist in areas with less dense of a population and more space than any urban area would typically have. Universities in America have begun to collect their paper waste for compost. Schools such as UC Berkeley, San Francisco State University, MIT and even Carleton College in Minnesota have begun to do their part. At Carleton, the implementation of unbleached napkins first was established, then a pilot program, dealing with the composting of paper towels in restrooms, was tested in a select number of dorms to see how effective the new system would be. They were able to effectively educate students in small increments.10 As the pilot program 9 Murphy, Melissa Carleton College 10 7 became successful, the composting initiative in bathrooms spread across their campus. Project CCI’s goal is to not only be able to compost disposable napkins from restrooms and dining halls, but to actually use the created compost towards established green initiatives on campus, such as green roofs. Creating a model of how composting as a system can work on a campus, the project aims to spread the establishment of composting as a source of fertilizer, and as means of a diversion from landfills. This process is similar to establishing one’s own backyard compost, however this would be dealing with the backyard of a whole institution. By spreading composting as a viable solution to paper towel waste and to help reduce the usage of chemicalfilled fertilizer, other college campuses and office buildings may be more open to implementing a similar system of their own. Related Projects and Involved Organizations Sustainability is a huge concern in today’s society; it is clear that there needs to be something done in order to make sure campuses around the country have to put steps toward making their campus more sustainable. Many Universities are taking initiative and increasing their sustainability by implementing green practices. For example, Carleton College has a waste program through which the college aims to decrease contamination between trash, recycling, and compostable materials.11 Using a three can system, students are responsible for sorting their waste.12 This shows students where exactly what their wastes are and where they are going. Carleton College has also set up a receptacle in bathrooms solely for the paper towels that are used in drying hands to be composted. Their results were staggering; “With more than 50 shared bathrooms in ten dorms on campus, switching the bathroom waste stream from trash to 11 12 Carleton College Ibid 8 composting had a significant impact – approximately 12,000 pounds of paper towels each year”.13 Carleton College has a population of approximately 2,000 students; comparatively, RPI has a population of approximately 5,000 students.14 Therefore, with a greater number of students at a ratio of 2:5, RPI students could potentially be creating 30,000 pounds of paper towels each year. The campus also has a volunteer program to get students directly involved in the campus program and enforcing the importance of the project. Carleton College is not the only college making a difference. Michigan State University has a sustainability project that revolves around green roofs. By re-introducing biodiversity into the environment and reducing the effects of the construction of buildings, green roofs help to reduce the school’s carbon footprint. The University of Oregon has a strong composting program that separates their waste. After the addition of their composting program the school saw a direct return in creating usable soil which ultimately saved them money in campus and grounds costs. The college’s zero waste program has expanded rapidly throughout campus, first starting at only a small level and then encompassing their student union, café’s and many other buildings throughout campus. The composting sites are used heavily by students and have taken a large amount of waste that is compostable, out of landfills and put to good use. Middlebury College, with a population of 2,500 students, composts over 300 tons of food waste per year.15 They have over 85 compost bins in dorms and offices throughout the entire campus.16 With the almost doubled population that The campus has a highly developed composting system. They store it in walk in coolers to prevent smelling during the summer and mix the compost regularly. After it is mixed and screened by campus employees, it is stored until the next spring to ensure that the fertilizer 13 Carleton College Ibid 15 Compost Process 16 Ibid 14 9 would be nutrient rich and high quality. Borough State College has a long standing compost program; it began in 1991 and grew quickly from there.17 The whole community is involved in their composting efforts. Borough College expanded their first program to add grass clippings mixed with the leaves. The combination was mixed into a 1:3 grass-to-leaves ratio and is turned three times a week with a compost turner.18 “The additional nitrogen content of the leaves sped up compost production; instead of two years, compost was considered finished in approximately nine to ten weeks.”19 Then the school added food waste or an “organics recycling element” to their program. Clearly there are sustainability projects occurring in universities across the country. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute should be taking greater steps towards becoming a more sustainable campus because it is more than feasible, it is necessary. Rationale The Campus Composting Initiative is a priority for RPI for the main reason of creating a cleaner, more sustainable campus. Project CCI will have an impact on the short term as well as the long term. In the short term the project would start diverging waste from landfills as well as start a compost system. Another short term goal would be to divert the waste that is produced in the dining halls from napkins and paper towels that can be composted. Through the placement of more receptacles around campus separating trash and compostable materials, students would become more aware of what their wastes actually are. As it is today, at Rensselaer the average daily food waste is about 600 lbs.[1] there would be a personal sense of actually putting something in a compost bin, recycling it back to the environment versus the trash bin that leads directly to landfills. A long term goal would be using the compost made as a fertilizer in the 17 Welcome to an Engaged Community Ibid 19 Ibid 18 10 spring for revitalizing the campus and its plants. The fertilizer could also be a part of increasing the use of green roofs around campus. RPI has a green roof on the student union but could be implemented on many other buildings. There is no requirement for a flat roof in order to implement green roofs. They would be a larger step towards a more sustainable campus. Green roofs could possibly put on residence halls which allows easy access to roofs and could help with heating costs. With the implementation of the Campus Composting Initiative, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute would save money in the long term with using compostable wastes that are created on campus, as fertilizer and removing them from the landfills. With the support of the alumni, students, and school officials the Campus Composting Initiative would lead the way cleaning up RPI and ensuring Rensselaer’s sustainability legacy. Project Design and Context Several kinds of expertise are going to be needed to complete Project CCI. Somebody with experience in composting, an accountant, and people who can assemble a green roof will be required in order to complete the project. Also, the project will need the support and assistance of the student body and staff in order for the project to be a success. A number of tasks need to be completed in order for Project CCI to be implemented. Although not necessarily in this order, the following tasks must be completed to implement the idea: gain RPI’s financial support; establish a composting site in the selected location; spread the word about Project CCI; hiring the necessary staff (accountant, construction workers); decide what buildings will get a green roof; and explain to the janitorial staff what will be needed of them. 11 To carry out Project CCI, roles must be assumed in order to get everything needed. One person is going to be in charge of is going to be in charge of the composting part of Project CCI. He or she will tell the janitors what this composting will require from them, will help choose the optimum composting site location, and will figure out what infrastructure is required for RPI to establish a compost site here on campus. Another person will manage the finances and data of the project. He or she is going to hire an accountant to keep track of the costs of everything, and record significant information related to the project; for example, the date that the first roof underwent construction. More importantly, he or she is going to try to get RPI’s financial support, or aid from another source, so that the project can be afforded. The third person is going to be in charge of the green roofs. He or she will work with RPI administration to decide what buildings will get green roofs, decide what plants should be utilized on the roof, and be responsible for hiring personnel who can assemble said roof. The fourth person will be in charge of essentially the public relations department. He or she may put up fliers and advertisements about Project CCI, and inform people of what the project is doing, how, and why. The key phases of the project will be when RPI decides to sponsor the project, establishing a compost pile, and the implementation of the green roofs. As of right now, the schedule goes as follows: gain RPI’s financial support, establish the compost pile, establish the composting system inside of dining halls and begin constructing the first green roof. From there, more compost will be added to the pile, and a few more roofs will be constructed. Gaining funding for this project is going to be the most challenging part since Project CCI is going to fairly costly. Installing a green roof is twice as costly as having a black tar roof installed, although they are cheaper in the long run because of the amount of money saved in 12 energy.20 If Project CCI is unable to get funding from RPI in order to implement the solution, the project may be able to get funding elsewhere. There may be a grant that could fund the project, or possibly some alumni would be interested enough to donate money to the project. A fundraiser or asking for donations are also possibilities if RPI decides not to fund the idea. Troy has a budding composting initiative. As of now, a group called Troy Compost collects produce scraps at the farmer’s market on Saturday mornings and uses them for small scale composting. The group is trying to implement a more-established way to get more citizens involved and actively participating in sorting their food scraps. They hope to one day establish a city-wide collection system. Nearby, there is Schenectady County’s Composting and Recycling Facility. By using Schenectady as an example, one day, Troy might have a composting collection system of its own. RPI producing its own compost is beneficial since it can also double as a fertilizer, and this will save the city money because it will no longer need to spend as much on the money directed towards fertilizer as of right now. The key stakeholders involved with RPI’s sustainability are the students and staff of RPI because they are on this campus every day and are the main producers of all of the waste. Students and staff use the buildings, the bathrooms and thus use paper towels. Project CCI would allow people to see how their waste is disposed. In this case, the waste will essentially turn into beautiful gardens growing on top of buildings that double as an insulator, thus making the buildings more environmentally friendly. Everyone is a stakeholder in this project because everyone takes part as a user of this college campus. By educating individuals on how composting works, they will be more apt to actually helping out, and will advocate for this system change. Students and faculty will need to be involved in educating others on the topic of how to compost. One of the biggest issues when 20 Klinkenborg 13 implementing a new system such as composting is a lack of information from the administration to the general public. If the students, faculty, and staff are unaware of the implemented change, they will hinder the system of composting from actually working, by not placing their disposables in the correct waste receptacles. Another way to involve stakeholders, such as administration who might control the budget for similar improvement projects, would be to present clear data as to why composting would be more efficient for the RPI campus rather than sending waste to landfills. Trends have shown that composting in the long run saves money, since cities don’t have to pay as much if they compost their waste. In Berkeley, CA, “Recology collects $33.50 per ton [of compost] hauled” while on the Recology website, it states that it costs “$147.13 per ton of garbage waste collected.”21 22 That is a difference of $113.63 saved when the waste is composted, instead of being sent to a landfill. In this specific scenario, a developed composting system had already been established and integrated into the waste collection system. This is just to show that in the long run, composting will pay off by not only being cheaper than sending waste to landfills, but also put less of a toll on the environment, since it effectively cuts down on the production of greenhouse gas emissions. And there is promise for harvesting biogas from compost heaps, since it is not contaminated with toxic chemicals like landfill gas is. With the harvested biogas, RPI could use it as an alternative to natural gas for a source of energy. To create this pile of compost, RPI could use the tossed napkins and food scraps from dining halls as well as all the clippings and dead leaves from the multitude of plants on campus. One cultural trend that will greatly affect the achievability of the project is the disposable culture that RPI students partake in daily. The need for convenience of food and mentality to buy impulsively has allowed for the thriving of companies to keep selling items that are over- 21 22 Sanders, Robert Recology 14 packaged or superfluous. Some items are made to be breakable, so consumers go out and buy even more things that are not needed. This culture of excess, of overconsumption and waste, has led to the realization that a solution to divert the waste produced needs to happen now. Even if the diverted waste is as simple as napkins, if they are composted instead of sent to a landfill, will equate to a major difference, not only environmentally but economically. A social effect that may benefit this composting initiative is the resurgence of “green is good.” Individuals are beginning to realize that by continuing to live overly wasteful and excessive lifestyles, there will be a lack of resources in the long run to use. Instead of making everything from new materials. items labeled with “made from 20% recycled material” or “post consumer fibers” are advertised as positives. There is a flip side of this current social mindset, since there are people out there who deny the effects of climate change, or simply do not see how their individual actions will impact the system as a whole. Because of differing idea sets, some individuals will not cooperate with this change that the project brings, thus acting as a barrier for this project to be implemented successfully. Some significant barriers to developing Project CCI would be the development of composting infrastructure at RPI. That development of infrastructure entails major costs that a student run organization cannot cover, and would most likely have to be funded by grants, donations, or by the institute itself. The initial cost for the purchase of in-vessel composters can range from $18,000-$75,000. By presenting the need for on-campus composters, and explaining the benefits of having one, such as low odor, low maintenance, and efficient use of space to make the most amount of compost, the project could hopefully obtain funding for the implementation of composters on campus. Project CCI would also need to explicitly present the energy efficiency and other benefits of establishing green roofs on campus, and obtaining 15 funding for that. Another significant barrier would be getting individuals to cooperate and partake in sorting their waste. In Commons Dining Hall, students already separate paper napkin waste into a specific disposal unit. By creating similar sorting systems, the project can overcome this barrier of non-participation. The success of the project will be evaluated once the RPI administration approves of the project, thus allowing for the establishment of a working compost collection and processing system. The collected compost waste would ideally be composted on campus, inside in-vessel composters. By having it on site, the project ensures that RPI will get to benefit from the rich compost that is being produced after collecting all the napkins and food scraps from the restrooms, dining halls and residence halls. The produced fertilizer from the composted materials would be used to fertilize the greenhouses and green roofs around campus. If it is taken by an outside company who would process it, the project would only be half successful, since the second half of the project was to implement an on-site composting facility. However, getting RPI to participate in the collection of its compostable material by an outside company could help promote local compost companies and would make the process of diverting waste a lot less costly for RPI to do. This is the second half of the process – to establish more sources of plant growth on campus. By integrating green roofs onto suitable buildings, they will act as a layer of insulation, which will help regulate the indoor temperatures of the buildings, ultimately reducing the overall energy costs to heat and cool the buildings. Having both compost collection and processing on campus with the development of green roofs, RPI will be more sustainable. If the project is successful, it will address the sustainability problem of excess and unnecessary waste on campus. It will also address energy efficiency problems on campus. The compost heap can be a source of biogas to be used as fuel, and the green roofs will help lower the amount of 16 energy used to cool buildings. By providing a way to divert organic waste from landfills into a system where the end products can naturally be made into new resources is a success in itself. Turning waste into a reusable product is a cost effective and environmentally conscious idea. It will be sustainable economically, since the newly established compost system will pay for itself in the long run, when compared to the costs for waste removal. And composting to provide fertilizer for the green areas on campus is sustainable environmentally, since it will allow for the diversion of usage of chemical products to enhance the plant life. By addressing waste and energy issues, our project does address several sustainability issues that are prevalent on campus. Closing If Project CCI is successful, food waste from the dining halls will be composted and would then be regenerated to help new plants grow – a complete circle of life for a plant – death to decay to regrowth. That is the epitome of sustainable living. Making students understand the purpose and benefits of composting food waste would be the most difficult step, but once past that, the Rensselaer campus would be a much more sustainable campus if a compost system could effectively be implemented. According to the UC Berkeley article “On America Recycles Day, EPA Recognizes Campus Food Waste Reduction,” “Americans waste 40% of the food we buy – 34 million tons annually.”23 That is a huge number and expected to grow even larger if campuses across the country do not begin living more sustainable lifestyles. More sustainable living in necessary if the amount of landfills is expected to even off, if the cost of gas is expected to drop, if climate change is expected to slow, and if the earth is expected to be a greener, healthier place. Humans tend to want all of these things to happen without doing anything to get there, but that is never going to work out and since college students are truly the movement 23 Sanders, Robert 17 makers of tomorrow, it only seems right that one of the biggest waste-reduction pushes occurs on college campuses. Composting is not a difficult task and it can truly make all the difference. Many schools have already begun to implement a composting system as well as other methods of green living such as getting rid of trays, changing and/or eliminating the types of containers used for food takeout, utilizing single-stream recycling (all recyclables can go into one recycling bin), electronics recycling, and a larger effort has been made to reduce the level of light consumption by not using lights during day-time classes if the classrooms have windows (same applies to dining halls). Rensselaer already utilizes single-stream recycling, is considering eliminating trays entirely in all dining halls, and has already eliminated them in two so far, and so taking on a composting site on campus would only go with the newest RPI trend of being clean, green, and sustainable. Once RPI successfully educates the student body and faculty on the need for composting on campus and how the compost can then be redirected to help elsewhere on campus, the composting effort in dining halls will be successful. A greener, more sustainable campus is purely a happier, healthier campus and what more could a school whose motto is “Why not change the world?” truly want. 18 Works Cited BioCycle. Advertisement. JG Press Inc., Mar. 2011. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. <http://cwmi.css.cornell.edu/invesselcomposting.pdf>. Carleton College.”: Sustainability: Community Waste Program. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. Chappell, Bill. "Dirty Diapers Pile Up In Portland Recycling Bins: 'It's Not Pretty'" NPR. NPR, 15 May 2013. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. "Compost Process." Compost Process | Middlebury. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. "Dump & Run." Dump & Run - Trash into Cash for Nonprofits. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. Howard, Brian C. "How Cities Compost Mountains of Food Waste." National Geographic18 June 2013: n. pag. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. <http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/06/130618-food-waste-composting-nycsan-francisco/>. Jameson, Charlotte. "Youth Fighting Food Waste on College Campuses | Food Tank." Food Tank RSS. Food Tank, 21 Apr. 2013. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. Klinkenborg, Verlyn. "Green Roofs." — National Geographic Magazine. National Geographic, May 2009. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. Murphy, Melissa. "How to Use Compost to Heat Water." SFgate.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. <http://homeguides.sfgate.com/use-compost-heat-water-78520.html>. "Operations and Sustainability." RPI Sustainability Clearinghouse. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. Raju, Reenu, Peter Ko, Danielle Reid, Nick Troy, Franklin Regan, and Paul Chando. Office for Sustainability at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Rep. N.p., Spring 2003. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. 19 Recology. Advertisement. Recologysf.com. Recology, n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. <http://www.recologysf.com/index.php/for-homes/transfer-station-residential>. "Resources." Benefits of Including Paper in Composting. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2013.<http://compostingcouncil.org/?resources=benefits-of-including-paper-incomposting/>. Rosenau, Jim. "Where Does Berkeley’s Green Waste Go? | Berkeleyside."Berkeleyside.com. N.p., 23 June 2011. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. Sanders, Robert. "On America Recycles Day, EPA Recognizes Campus Food Waste Reduction." UC Berkeley NewsCenter. UC Berkeley NewsCenter, 15 Nov. 2012. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. “Sustainability: Bathroom Composting”: Carleton College. N.p., 15 Oct. 2013. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. <http://apps.carleton.edu/sustainability/campus/waste/bathroom_composting/>. "Types of Composting." EPA. Environmental Protection Agency, 17 Oct. 2013. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. <http://www.epa.gov/compost/types.htm>. "Welcome to an Engaged Community." Borough of State College Government. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. 20