Composting bins have become a familiar sight around Rockefeller University鈥檚 residential buildings鈥攂rown containers set out weekly alongside garbage and recycling. Inside are onion skins, coffee grounds, apple cores, and eggshells: food scraps that once went straight to landfill.
Those scraps are given new purpose as they are collected separately and transformed by the Department of Sanitation into nutrient-rich soil or renewable energy. Now, that initiative is set to expand across campus, adding new bins outside the Graduate Students Residence and Sophie Fricke Hall to the initial round of collection sites located at Faculty House and Scholars Residence.
鈥淥ver the next few weeks, we鈥檙e excited to grow this popular program,鈥� says Alex Kogan, associate vice president of Plant Operations & Housing. 鈥淲e鈥檝e already seen our compost increase tremendously over the past year, because residents have really embraced it. It鈥檚 become part of the routine.鈥�