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Three members of the College Committee on Sustainability came to the Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council meeting on Sunday, Feb. 22. Director of Marketing and Sustainability Ken Oldehoff, Director of Facility Operations and Gardens Kiki Williams and Professor of Earth Science Jeffrey Walker spoke to the Council about the Committee’s current projects and fielded the questions and suggestions of Council members.
The Committee is currently evaluating the American University and College Presidents’ Climate Commitment. By signing onto this initiative, a college pledges to eventually achieve carbon neutrality. Each institution is able to determine their own timeline for reaching this goal, and more than 400 have already pledged to do so. Walker explained that while President Catharine Bond Hill is hesitant to sign the commitment before knowing the full cost of such an aspiration, there are several projects that they have recommended that she fund out of the discretionary budget.
The Committee is now working on drawing up budgets for these projects, which include plans to standardize the recycling program across campus, improve the Shared Bike Program and encourage the College to organically manage the Chapel and Library lawns. Walker noted that the lawns should prove to be less of a challenge than the Prentiss Athletic Fields, which have been successfully maintained organically since last fall.
The Committee is also advising the College in its search for electric cars for campus personel, and hopes to establish a solar-powered charging station for the vehicles.
The College Committee on Sustainability has created two subcommittees. One is observing the effects of the use of salt to de-ice walkways on campus, and the other is working to create guidelines on environmentally acceptable practices for vendors at the farmers’ market, which has grown and become more successful over time.
Oldehoff spoke to the Council about the difficulties of bringing local foods to campus and the possibility of placing a composting system in the Retreat along with purchasing compostable disposable items, such as utensils. “I’m dying to do composting in the Retreat,” said Oldehoff. “We could compost everything up to 80 percent.”
Oldehoff’s optimism is based largely on the waste audit that took place in the Retreat on Feb. 18. According to Oldehoff, from the 2,583 people that ate at the Retreat between 8:30 a.m. and 11 p.m. that day, the audit only gleaned 23 pounds of product that had to go in the trash. Another waste audit is scheduled for the All Campus Dining Center (ACDC) on Feb. 23 and 24, and Oldehoff expects similarly impressive results.
During the audit, customers separated waste from their meals into compostable, potentially compostable, recyclable and trash categories. The potentially compostable items are objects that are now made from non-compostable materials, but that could be composted if the College decided to purchase compostable products.
However, cost remains an obstacle in bringing composting to the Retreat. Compostable disposables cost about twice as much as regular disposable items, and removal is still the primary cost of composting. This change would also come at a time when the College is not looking to increase costs in any area. Oldehoff suggested that students might be willing to pay more for their food at the Retreat if they knew that it was for the sake of sustainability, though he said that that should be up to the students and appealed to the VSA Council for their opinions.
“We could do it really fast,” said Oldehoff. “We could do it next semester.”
Several members of Council implied that students might be willing to pay more, but were hesitant to say so for certain. Some mentioned the possibility that this might be a good use of the new referendum system, which would allow a question that is relevant to the entire student body to be put on the ballot during a student election. The Council will vote on the amendment to the Constitution that will allow referenda at its meeting on Sunday, March 1.
VSA Vice President for Activities Alexandria Dempsey ’09 stressed that transparency and education are key in gaining student support for a composting system in the Retreat. “Any higher prices in the Retreat should be explained,” said Dempsey. She said that students should be trained in sustainable practices at Vassar beginning with Freshman Orientation.
Another area of campus dining that has proven costly and challenging to maintain is the availability of local foods. “Getting local food on an institutional level is really hard,” said Oldehoff. “If you want local foods, you’ll have to spend more money on local foods. If you want things to be done the right way, it’s going to cost a little bit more.”
According to Oldehoff, maintaining sources and programs has been difficult, such as in the case of Stoneridge Orchards, which went out of business. Still, he is working on providing local food where possible. For example, Oldehoff has approached Wilklow Orchards about providing cider for the milk dispensers in ACDC.
Other points brought up at the forum include energy consumption and recycling concerns. The College Committee on Sustainability hopes to standardize the bins all over campus, and is working to improve recycling in the Library. The guests at the Council meeting also cleared up lingering confusion over how to recycle paperboard, the material out of which cereal boxes are made. Paperboard is now allowed in the mixed paper bins.
Williams was hopeful about energy consumption around campus, and he listed several successful energy-saving programs, as well as ways in which the College is trying to improve, such as installing motion sensors on lights in certain buildings. She mentioned an amnesty program in which students can trade in their incandescent light bulbs at the Residential Operations Center for energy-saving compact fluorescent bulbs for free, as well as last year’s successful dorm energy challenge.
This forum was the final in a series of three, which included a discussion of the meal plan and a health and wellness discussion that sparked a debate about the role of Security on campus. All three were open to the entire student body, though they were sparsely attended by students outside of Council.
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