BU works toward ‘greener’ dining

Trash, plastic and glass may no longer be the only labels separating Boston University’s George Sherman Union trash bins. BU Dining Services is currently researching options to include compost sections, eliminating a large amount of the waste created by the heavily trafficked food court.

This proposal is one of the many suggestions that recently hired Dining Hall Sustainability coordinator Kelly Dunn made.’ to improve recycling, expand composting and search for alternative operation appliances and cleaning products in the dining halls.

‘We’re really positioning ourselves to make our mark in the university and college world,’ Dunn said. ‘I think there are going to be a lot of exciting opportunities to promote that.’

Dunn, whose position was initiated before the hiring freeze, said she thinks one of her most important tasks is communicating with the student body and informing them about what the dining halls are already doing to improve sustainability.

‘When you look at other universities in the area, we’re doing as much as everybody else,’ Dunn said. ‘But we haven’t been communicating that, because we’re really trying to get things up and running [first].’

Currently, all the dining halls recycle bottles, plastic, glass aluminum and cardboard. They also compost produce and certain meats, Dunn said.

After a test run this semester in West Campus’s dining hall, all dining halls will be making the switch to ‘green chemicals’ for detergent and rinse agents in dish washing machines next semester, Dunn said. Dining Services also plans to replace its trucks with smaller, more energy-efficient alternatives.

Since starting at BU in mid-October, Dunn has attended an Environmental Student Organization meeting and met with Slow Food BU students to discuss BU’s farmer’s market and the groups’ potential interests.

‘When we talked to her, she was looking towards helping out the farmer’s market and looking to change the way it’s run,’ SFBU Treasurer Elizabeth Jarrad, a Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences sophomore, said.’

ESO member Michaela Haynes said a lot of suggestions they had for Dunn are already in place in the dining halls, but ESO members were just not aware of them.

‘[Dunn] was interested in trying to install green roofs on campus and growing green food,’ Hayes, a College of Arts and Sciences senior, said. ‘I think that could be a connection with the [Organic] Gardening Club, because they’re already growing food on the roof in the CAS green house.’

Students from environmental groups on campus, including ESO, SFBU, Organic Gardening Club, sedGreen, BU Bikes and a new compost club met recently to discuss projects they would like to accomplish on campus.

‘I think that a lot of us are working on similar things,’ Hayes said. ‘It helps to share ideas and resources because a lot of the groups have made different connections within the administration.’

One of these projects is the compost cans in the GSU, and, depending on the results of Dining Services most recent annual survey, the department may consider implementing this option, Dining Services Director Barbara Laverdiere said.

‘We would certainly be much more willing to go the next step,’ Laverdiere said. ‘If we get a really strong response, we will take the next step, which is how will we implement this.’