Kembra Smaby – Staff Writer

As a campus community, Gustavus is committed to sustainability. Gustavus is affirming its commitment to sustainability and its recent decision to provide free composting bags to students is just a piece of this larger puzzle.

The institution aims to have 90% of its solid waste, including that produced by students, either recycled or composted according to the Gustavus website.

Gustavus is well equipped to meet this goal as a majority of single-use items such as utensils, cups, and to-go boxes being compostable, as well as having an industrial-grade composter located on campus. But in order for all of this to work, students have to actually compost. According to Environmental Sustainability Chair Juliet White, a survey conducted by Gustavus sustainability interns showed that only 53% of its respondents, which we assume to be representative of the student body, were using the compost bins they were provided. This raises the question: why are students not composting?
There are a variety of factors that contribute to students’ unwillingness to compost, but it seems a critical one is smell. “My roommate and I tried the compost bin at the beginning of the year, but we had a miscommunication about whose responsibility it was to take it out. Our room started to smell really bad, and we started getting some fruit flies, and it turned out that molding food in the compost was the culprit. After that, we found it safer just to not use it and put food waste in the trash so that it would get taken out,” one Gustie said. Of course, this is just one student’s account, but it speaks to a larger trend. The trash and recycling bins are easily visible and, therefore, easy to know if they have been taken out. The lid on the compost bin, while it works to control smell, also prevents a quick check and makes it easier to forget about. So if the smell is a primary concern, how do we mitigate this?
The solution presented by the Gustavus student senate and the Johnson Center for Environmental Sustainability seems simple enough: free composting bags.
White explains that “the benefit of the bag is that it makes life easier. Compost bags create a better seal when you close the bin, so it keeps odors inside the bin. They also make cleaning up easier since you don’t have to clean out your bin every time you take out your compost.”
Even with composting bags it would be unwise to forget to take out the compost completely, the additional smell reduction that the bags provide certainty reduces the frequency with which students would have to take out the compost. Composting bags aren’t new, but first semester students were only provided with one bag and had to purchase more at the campus bookstore should they require them.
This additional cost served as a significant deterrent to composting bags and it seems to affect composting in general. White also mentioned that the survey found that “of the 47% of students who do not currently use their compost bins, 50% said they would compost if they had bags.” If this data is truly representative of student opinion, the provision of these composting bags should result in over 75% of students using their compost bins. “I am hopeful we will get to a point where all students compost and our campus can make strides toward a more sustainable future,” White said.

“I am hopeful we will get to a point where all students compost and our campus can make strides towards a more sustainable future,”

A significant amount of work was put into this initiative, including the bags being “hand-rolled by members of both the Student Senate and the Johnson Center,” White said. Despite all of this work, it remains unclear whether students will take the initiative to pick up their bags from the residential life office.
“I know there was an email about that, and they’re [the bags are] free now.” However, this student admitted that they had not picked up their bags yet, and explained, “I know I read the email, but I just didn’t retain the information. I don’t know where to go to pick up the bags” one Gustie said.
So for all the Gusties still waiting to pick up your composting bags, head on over to the Residential Life Office Monday through Friday from 8:00 am-4:45 pm to claim your one free roll of compost bags and get composting.