Campus Recycling is not only encouraging University students to reduce, reuse and recycle, but also to compost their food and associated paper products during the ASUO Spring Street Faire, which runs through Friday, in an effort to have close to a “zero-waste” event.
“We are moving recycling up a notch,” Campus Recycling program manager Karyn Kaplan said. “We have done this before, but not as aggressively.”
For the event, Campus Recycling decided not to put a trash bin on campus for the first time, and it has increased its number of volunteers. The group has about 25 volunteers this year, 15 more than at the Fall Street Faire. From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day, there will be a monitor and volunteer at six stations spread throughout campus where trash can be recycled, composted and deposited.

“We want to educate students about the proper way to compost waste,” Campus Recycling employee Jonathan Borgida said.
Campus Recycling has been working with Rexis Forest By-Products Inc. for the past year testing different non-food items to see if they could be composted. They discovered that they could compost napkins, chopsticks, plates, waxed paper cups and paper food boats.
Kaplan said composts are usually thought of as yard waste, but food waste and paper products will also nurture the soil because they’re natural, decomposable products that don’t contain pesticides — which would eventually deplete the soil.
“One of the environmental crises we are facing right now is soil depletion,” Kaplan said. “Petrochemicals have been hurting our soil, and composting will actually help our food supply.”

In addition, Campus Recycling has asked all food vendors to purchase paper products that can be composted.
“We have good communication with the vendors to discuss what they can bring to this campus,” Borgida said.
Campus Recycling has also been working with McDonald Wholesale Co. , a local paper supply company, for discounts on disposable products for the vendors to purchase.
Kaplan said the Street Faire will be close to a zero-waste event, but most paper cups have a plastic lining and can’t be composted. At this time, waxed paper cups are the only biodegradable cup; however, these cups can’t be used to serve hot beverages. Many of the cups at this year’s event will have to go to the landfill.
“We are just trying to cut the waste down lower and lower for each event and trying to bring awareness to this campus,” Borgida said. “We live in such a disposable culture and we want to change the mindset of people, and hopefully transcend our efforts into the Saturday Market and the Lane County Fair.”
Campus Recycling plans to make the Willamette Valley Folk Festival, held on campus May 17 to 19 a zero-waste event also. The group will be washing 4,000 reusable plates and utensils in the EMU and returning them to the estimated 15 food vendors that will be serving the festival.
Borgida said they decided not to use the reusable plates for the faire because there are too many exit points and plates could be stolen or lost. In addition, the faire is during the school week and the group can’t have access to the dishwasher in the EMU.
Student Recycling Coordinator Jeff Ziglinski said he hoped composting would be utilized in the University dorm’s cafeterias in the future to help save wasted food.
“I think we are heading in the right direction,” he said. “These are great pilot projects, but it would be great if the University could institutionalize it.”