Nov. 15 is America Recycles Day. Today the focus is compost, which is easy to follow on the Homewood campus because everyone is doing it! Check out Homewood Recycling's stats and tips for sorting smart.
Thanks to you, Homewood campus composted 49 tons of material in October 2018. Composting avoids the release of greenhouse gas emissions from the incinerator. Additionally, when the finished material is applied to the land, it reduces the need for chemical fertilizers and pesticides and decreases erosion and storm water runoff, both of which are good for the Chesapeake Bay. Composting is so easy because we have yellow bins on every floor, in every building on campus, including residence halls and outside!
This month was a record-breaking for compost collection on the Homewood campus, and we couldn't have done it without all of you taking the time to #recyclesmart and sort your compostables into the right bin.
If you're still a little bit confused about what should be composted we want to help. An easy way to know is to ask yourself if the item was ever alive. If the answer is yes, then it can be composted. For example, it's cold and flu season, and you might be using a lot of tissues for your runny nose. The tissues were made from trees, which were once alive, so they can be composted. Didn't finish that ham sandwich for lunch? You can compost it because the meat, bread, and toppings were all once alive as either a plant or an animal.
Now what about those to-go containers from the Homewood cafes? They look like plastic, but they were made from corn which was…once alive, so they can be composted! In fact, all the paper and plastic food and beverage containers sold on campus (except sushi containers) are compostable. So toss them in the yellow bin and help protect the health of our community and our bay!
To learn more about waste reduction and diversion on the Homewood campus, follow Homewood Recycling on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
Take the America Recycles Day pledge
