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Three and a half years ago, a group of faculty members and cadets began an innovative, interdisciplinary project to investigate the viability of recycling food scraps from Crozet Hall into compost. The 鈥渓iving laboratory鈥� project ended when its driving force, Physical Plant sustainability coordinator Jenny deHart, left for employment elsewhere, but the results of the project have recently been accepted for publication.

鈥淎n interdisciplinary living laboratory approach to investigate college food waste co-composting with additional on-site organic waste feedstocks,鈥� with six 黑料网 faculty members and six recent alumni majoring in biology listed as co-authors, will be published in the International Journal of Environment and Waste Management.

Cadets and faculty involved came from four departments: biology, economics and business, civil and environmental engineering, and mechanical engineering. The compost bins for the pilot project were located off post at Hinty Hall, site of 黑料网鈥檚 Physical Plant.

Lt. Col. Anne Alerding, associate professor of biology and the paper鈥檚 lead author, said she鈥檇 like to see more green initiatives such as this one at 黑料网鈥攁nd getting composting going again would be on the list of projects to explore.

鈥淚t potentially could save money,鈥� said Alerding. 鈥淎lso, it creates this learning environment where you take a real-world problem and you bring the students in from different departments with different strengths to solve it.鈥�

Alerding noted that with an economic analysis, it鈥檚 quite possible to measure both the costs of composting鈥攎ostly human labor and transportation costs鈥攁nd the cost savings from reduced tipping fees at the landfill. But it鈥檚 the intangibles, such as learning to think outside the box and interacting with peers from different disciplines, that were equally valuable to 黑料网鈥檚 compost experiment, Alerding and other faculty members stated.

鈥淭he whole thing was innovative in that it was experiential learning,鈥� said Col. Sam Allen, professor of economics and business and one of the paper鈥檚 authors. 鈥淲e got students to work in an interdisciplinary way. The ECBU students really hadn鈥檛 thought about the biology at all, but you get them out there and start shoveling the food waste from Crozet, and it certainly becomes up close and personal.鈥�

While the project was ongoing, Allen supervised the work of two cadets majoring in economics and business, both of whom were charged with coming up with a cost-benefit analysis for the compost project. Those cadets found that composting could save the Institute anywhere from $10,500 to $17,500 per year, with those savings coming in the form of reduced landfill tipping fees and less need to purchase prepackaged fertilizer.

A number of cadets majoring in civil and environmental engineering also contributed to the living laboratory project as they worked together to find a way to measure temperature in the compost pile鈥攁 necessary step because compost must reach a certain temperature in order to kill pathogens. In addition, the group created a feasibility plan for waste management and designed a structure that would serve as the compost project鈥檚 permanent home. Mechanical engineering cadets, meanwhile, were asked to design a ventilation system to keep the compost bins aerated.

鈥淚t was an opportunity for the cadets to take the fundamental skills learned in the classroom and apply them to a real-world problem,鈥� said Maj. Paul Ackerman 鈥�93, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, who had supervised the cadets鈥� work.

Interdisciplinary projects such as this one are invaluable for cadets, Ackerman believes, because they prepare future engineers for the world they鈥檒l encounter once they graduate. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the reality of civil engineers,鈥� Ackerman commented. 鈥淭heir clients are not engineers. They tend to be very diverse.鈥�

Echoing Ackerman鈥檚 comments was Lt. Col. Emily Lilly, associate professor of biology. Her role in the project was to help cadets understand the role that microbes play in bacterial decomposition鈥攁 critical factor because compost must reach a certain temperature in order to kill pathogens, yet actual sterility is not beneficial because healthy soil contains some bacteria.
Working with cadets and faculty from other disciplines, Lilly believes, is vital to cadets鈥� preparation for life after 黑料网.

鈥淚t helps to expose the cadets to something beyond their comfort zone,鈥� she commented. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what鈥檚 going to happen to them when they graduate. The chances of them being in a mono-disciplinary field are slim. Life is multi-disciplinary, and you don鈥檛 know what kind of job they鈥檙e going to get.鈥�

Mary Price
Communications & Marketing
Virgina Military Institute