Sodexo intern update #5: composting, local food, and honey in The Commons

Hello again, and I apologize for the delay between this blog post and the last; the environmental scene in Ripon has been keeping me busy.

First thing to cover is that I went to speak at the Ripon city council on November 12^th 2013 to ask for an exemption for educational institutions from the current composting ordinance, which only allows residential composting. The council was receptive to my proposal, and an exception is currently being written to be approved by the city council at a later date. More updates on that in the future, but for now, I am hopeful that Ripon College can begin composting on campus in the spring of 2014.

Additionally, there was a meeting at Fraser Farms, hosted by Dennis and Mary Meyer, to discuss the possibility of a partnership between Ripon College and GrowSureEase. For this meeting, we toured the greenhouse that GrowSureEase uses to grow vegetables during the winter months and saw the different types of plants that he is currently growing there. Then we went to the Meyer’s Christmas tree farm, where we had a delicious vegetarian lunch prepared by Mary that featured fresh greens from their greenhouse and hot apple cider pressed from the apple trees that are on the property. After the fantastic local meal, those in attendance (including President Messitte, Mrs. Messitte, Dean Ogle, Sarjit Singh, and Samara Hamzé) listened to Dennis’s proposal and began a dialogue on the potential for this relationship in the future. Nothing concrete was decided, but it began a discussion about the role of local food on our campus and the importance of connections between the college and community businesses.
Also on the topic of composting, a total of 32 5-gallon buckets of organic material were removed from the Sodexo kitchen in October to be composted at Fraser Farms, with 28 buckets collected during November, and 28.5 buckets in September. So, our total for the fall of 2013 is 442.5 gallons of compostable materials prevented from going to the landfill. (Note: We will temporarily be stopping the collection of compostable materials, since we have no way to continue composting during the cold months, especially now that there is snow on the ground. This is something that we hope to correct in the future, but as of now we are unable to do so.)

One other noteworthy event was the introduction of honey produced by the EGOR hives into the Pickard Commons. Look for it and the sign on the east end of the Commons near the beverages. Also at the beverage stand is the lack of plastic straws that have been replaced with a sign informing students and staff about the negative environmental impact of plastic straws, which are still available at the checker’s stand, but are less accessible, so people make a conscious decision to use or not use a straw.

As the semester winds down, planning for next semester begins, so look forward to the reappearance on minimal-meat Mondays occasionally in the Commons. And stay tuned for more updates on composting and upcoming projects.