Launching New Composting Pilot
George Mason Facilities & Campus Operations (F&CO) is excited to announce the launch of a new zero waste station, with industrial composting, located at the Starbucks Northern Neck on the Fairfax campus!
George Mason University is aiming for over 90% waste diversion from our trash stream, or to become zero waste. Waste reduction, reuse, and donation, as well as diversion strategies like composting/recycling are needed to support our sustainability goal.
The Starbucks Northern Neck composting pilot is a collaboration between Facilities Management, University Sustainability, the Patriot Green Fund (PGF), and Operations & Business Services and its vendors, and offers the first industrial composting resource available for students, faculty, and staff use. This pilot complements existing pre-consumer composting in residential dining halls, as well as coffee grounds composting. Foodservice cups, flatware, etc. at Starbucks Northern Neck were pivoted to third-party certified compostable items, which means now visitors can compost them in addition to food scraps! However, be sure to check items for BPI or CMA eco-labeling, like a certification mark, before composting. #cleancompost
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[ID] This video features the latest composting bins located inside and outside the Starbucks in Northern Neck on the Fairfax campus of George Mason University. The compost bins outdoors are three metallic bins attached to each other. Each bin features a handle to open it, as well as a foot pedal to also open it. Each unit has a different color behind the handle: blue for recycling, black for trash, and green for compost.
For the indoor station, it is a white rectangular wooden box with different compartments and holes at the top to dispose of waste, with one handle at the top of the right side for compost. The top of the waste station is brown. There are color-coordinated labels for each section of the station. Purple is for glass, bottles, cans, and paper, which are blue; black is trash; and green is compost.
Examples of proper waste disposal are being showcased for the indoor station. The specific examples are of glass, an aluminum can, paper, various trash items, and compostables.