Bowdoin College
IN-26: Innovation C

Like many schools, Bowdoin Dining diverts pre- and post-consumer food waste to a commercial composting company that in turn provides compost to Bowdoin’s organic garden each year. Several offices on campus also utilize compost buckets in their kitchen space, but something we think is innovative or exemplary at Bowdoin is that 100% of the student residence halls that are host to a kitchen/cooking facilities (40% of all student housing) have access to composting for food waste. The same commercial compost company that provides pick up from the Bowdoin dining halls provides weekly pick-ups from the second largest student residence complex. In addition to the Brunswick Apartment student complex, numerous student residence halls have passive on-site compost bins, and two college housing residences have access to the Bowdoin Organic Garden's compost collection system. As mentioned before, this covers 100% of student residences with kitchen/cooking facilities. Students in the composting residences receive a compost bucket from the Sustainability Office and are responsible for emptying their own food waste. The 12 on-site passive composting bins are routinely monitored and maintained by student staff of the Sustainability Office.