You can’t get there by GPS. There are no signs to direct you. But just yards from Hwy 49 in Milledgeville, a little hillside with a great view is abuzz with the sounds and smells of rotating and baking leftover food. An all-female team works this spot and plans to sell their compost, starting this fall. Not many universities have a student-led compost program. The site diverts about 1,000 pounds of food waste from the Georgia College & State University dining hall every week. That’s...
Food. It’s a necessity of life, yet it also takes up the most space in landfills. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that 30-40% of the food supply is wasted. That’s 80 billion pounds each year. Georgia College’s Office of Sustainability works to curb that number, at least as it relates to food waste on campus with a composting operation.“We've been operating since 2017, and we have processed nearly 70,000 pounds total. That’s almost 10,000 pounds just this semester,”...
Georgia College students, faculty and staff take sustainability seriously. Efficiency is at the forefront with recycling efforts, generating and using compost, the community garden and the newly built Integrated Science Complex (ISC). “There's a lot that goes into the planning stages of the ISC,” said Lori Hamilton, chief sustainability officer. “Several individuals on campus were included in conversations about the energy efficiency needs of the building. Those systems were selected...
From a young age, Emma Brodzik, ’17, felt a strong connection to nature. She understood the importance of repurposing materials to help the environment. Now she works in the Office of Solid Waste Management and Recycling at Georgia Institute of Technology. “Sustainability has always been interesting to me,” she said. “I used to ask my parents to drive me to recycling stations when we moved to Georgia, because our neighborhood didn't have a pickup.” At Georgia College, Brodzik was...
Much like waves that crush rock and seashells into beach sand—a new rumbling machine at Georgia College breaks glass bottles and jars into tiny sand particles that can be reused in landscaping and other creative ways. Operation of the machine recently began at West Campus. It saves the university in hauling, processing and disposal costs while ensuring a healthier campus environment. Recently, blue 64-gallon glass-recycling containers have popped up all over campus giving faculty,...
