Starting next Tuesday, leftover and disposed food will not be wasted at Observatory Hill Dining Hall.
Panorama Pay-Dirt compost company, University Dining Services, University Facilities Management recycling office and Green Dining have teamed up to implement a compost program for the high volumes of food waste generated at the busiest dining hall on Grounds.
O-Hill serves about half of all dining hall meals on Grounds and was chosen to pioneer this project because the loading equipment needed to transport waste to be composted is in place there, University Dining Director Brent Beringer said.
“It was an idea that we’ve been working on for a couple years,” Beringer said. “We hit roadblocks early on, but it all came together last spring.”
The main roadblock involved government restrictions on composting.
“What’s hindering food composting today are government regulations [because] food waste can cause pathogens,” said Steve Murray, founder of Panorama Pay-Dirt. “If it’s not composted properly, it could get into ground water.”
Murray noted, however, this risk can be avoided with proper composting methods that involve killing harmful pathogens in food compost by exposing the waste to an environment heated to more than 130 degrees for a period of three weeks.
Beringer said the University was granted permission for the project by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality mostly because the University will “involve students in the process” of measuring temperatures and pathogen levels.
Daniel Michaelson, a third-year Engineering student and environmental science major, said he has been working to get the project off the ground for the last two years.
Setbacks aside, “we managed to work it out with relative ease because the Department of Environmental Safety was so supportive,” Michaelson said, also noting that the project will play a part in Student Council’s planned Community Garden Project. "There’s been talk of a large-scale community garden in which the compost would be needed,” Michaelson noted.
Murray said he hopes composting expands across Grounds.
“It’s taking food full circle, all the way back to the ground,” he said. “It’s also the right thing to do. In today’s green world, it’s very beneficial.”
The program may expand to other dining halls, Beringer said, depending on how successful it is at Observatory Hill Dining Hall.
Read More
Winsome Earle-Sears talks higher education in first U.Va. event of the campaign
By Ford McCracken | 9 hours agoA Jamaican immigrant and a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, Earle-Sears is the first female lieutenant governor of Virginia,
U.Va.'s Earth Day Eco-Fair 2025 spotlights sustainability advocacy
By Leigh Bailey | 10 hours agoStudents from Contracted Independent Organizations and University Office of Sustainability leadership programs each shared their unique perspectives about sustainability advocacy on Grounds.
Student Council votes to relocate Hereford orchard and basketball hoop
By Lauren Seeliger | 20 hours agoStudent Council passed a resolution Tuesday to relocate the orchard and basketball hoop of Hereford Residential College due to construction in the surrounding area.
