UC Santa Barbara’s Ellison Hall, a six-story building containing offices, classrooms, and dry laboratories has instituted a new vermicomposting program as part of the campus’ drive towards environmental sustainability under the guidance of the multi-departmental Ellison Hall Sustainability Committee. Vermicomposting is the process of using worms to break down organic waste into soil and fertilizer. This Friday at 2pm student, staff, and faculty volunteers will be gathering for a volunteer day and Recycling Q and A session.
A test composting program has been in place in the Geography department kitchen for about a month, collecting between five and ten pounds of material each week for only one bin. The program is now expanding into the Communications and Sociology departments, as well as the Institute for Computational Earth System Science (ICESS). A similar vermicomposting program has been in place in Bren Hall for several years.
The vermicomposting program is a key part of the new Ellison Hall Recycling Plan, a broad, building-wide initiative to reduce the waste produced by Ellison Hall. In addition to handling standard waste such as copy paper and plastic bottles, the plan will incorporate programs to recycle electronic waste, film plastics, and other lesser-known wastes, and will conduct office cleanouts of recycled material when faculty members move in or out. Reducing Ellison Hall’s waste output is a prerequisite to getting Ellison Hall recognized as a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) building. In December of last year, UCSB set a goal to have 25 existing buildings receive LEED recognition in the next five years, one of which will be Ellison Hall.
Ellison Hall’s vermicomposting program represents a combined effort by the custodial staff, the fire marshal, AS Recycling, and the Ellison Hall Sustainability Committee. The Committee is comprised of undergraduate and graduate students, as well as faculty members. In addition to the vermicomposting program and the new recycling plan, the Committee is working on reducing the energy consumed by computer monitors and lights, and amending department purchasing plans to favor buying environmentally preferable products. Similar committees exist in the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, Davidson Library, the Recreation Center, Associated Students, and Student Affairs.
Press Release by Katie Maynard and Eli Krispi of the Ellison Hall Sustainability Committee. For more about the project (and “Cagney,” the staff’’s pet rubber rat), see the December 08, 2006 article – “The Greening of Ellison.”
