If you have walked past the cafeteria during lunch anytime in the past two days you probably would have smelled the distinct odor of composting food, or even seen the colorful piles displayed out front for all to see. 

This Wednesday and Thursday from 11:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m., five days worth of student compost was dumped out on blue tarps to display in front of the cafeteria entrance. This was accompanied by a table with signs stating things like “Take only what you will eat.” “Who has to pick out your plastic?” and “Most of the food waste comes from students scraping plates.” Behind this table sat student volunteers from the Sustainable Food Initiative (SFI).

SFI is a club on campus that, among other things, tries to raise food waste awareness on campus. For this event they worked with Food Services Director Bruce Emmerson who not only supported it but spoke fondly about the change this event brought to the cafeteria the first time it was done many years ago, change like removing trays, and adding the compost station. 

Emmerson was excited for the event because he says; “People will get to see what’s thrown in there, not just food waste but forks and dishes and straws.” 

True to that statement the compost piles that were dumped contained not only food waste but straws, bowls, spoons, plastic bags, ketchup packets, ice cream sandwich wrappers, and plastic cups. 

There were a variety of reactions from many different people as the piles made a striking visual in contrast to the LovEMU giving table display on Wednesday. Junior Morgan Evans, an EMU student who passed by was surprised at the amount of straws and plastic bags, she commented that “This just shows how unobservant some people really are.” 

Other passerbyers said “Pretty powerful,” “That’s nasty,” or just laughed at the bowls sitting in amongst the napkins, slices of pizza, and half eaten apples.  

Lindsey White, the SFI member who planned this event, hopes that this event will stir up good discussions on campus and she said “uncomfortable is like a goal.” She supports the compost emphasizing the full cycle it offers saying,“What we are able to eat also other organisms and things can eat and if we don’t just throw it away like we do normally, if we put it back in the earth and use it to grow more food for us that is food for other organisms too which is super awesome.” 

However, White hopes that people will become more aware of where their food is going rather than treating the compost like a glorified trash can. She said, “The compost is not there to make you feel less guilty about the food you’re wasting, that’s just not the point of compost.”

While this event holds many purposes, the key things White hopes it will accomplish are raising awareness of the non-compostables that end up in the compost, and starting discussion around food. She doesn’t expect major change but says, “I want people to talk and be frustrated or annoyed or disgusted or uncomfy. I just want to stir up discussion.”

Emmerson says, “I just hope it’s half as good as the first time”.