Composting at UNCA
As of the fall of 2025, composting is making a return to UNCA!
Composting is the return of organic matter back into the environment. Organic matter includes leaves, paper towels, food scraps, and more. It is beneficial for the ecosystem to compost for many reasons: returns of important nutrients back to the soil, conservation of water by increasing the soil’s water retention, saving space in landfills, and reducing greenhouse gases. When organic matter is placed into landfills, it cannot properly decompose, causing greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane to be emitted into the atmosphere. Food waste makes up a larger amount of the organic matter that enters the landfill, so it is important to divert as much as possible.
After a two year pause, and with continued efforts made by Campus Operations and the SEC, UNC Asheville is reintroducing composting to campus!
In partnership with CompostAVL, Brown Dining Hall is now able to compost their pre-consumer food waste, which is any food waste created during food preparation, such as trim waste, imperfect produce, etc. This will divert up to 900lbs of food waste per month! Over the course of a year, this will have a measurable environmental impact of:
- CO₂ emissions reduction equivalent to 7,532 miles* driven by an average gasoline-powered passenger vehicle.
- Methane emissions reduction equivalent to 7,432 miles* driven by the same.
- (*Generated using the ReFed Impact Calculator)
Since it is a pre-consumer plan, students will not be able to compost through the school. It is a smaller-scale composting plan, but a huge step in the right direction for UNCA. The Student Environmental Center is funding the first year of this initiative because we are passionate about reducing emissions and making the environment a better place. A huge thank you to Olivia Gray, Campus Operations, Brown Dining Hall Employees, the Student Government Association, and the SEC’s Faculty Advisory Committee for making this happen!
Previous Student Environmental Center employees helped establish a campus wide composting project in the residence halls to capture and productively implement organic waste being generated in the dorms. While UNC Asheville is currently not composting post-consumer food waste, we are continuing to advocate food waste reduction, recycling right, and amending soil with green waste in our student-led gardens.
We invite you to share your thoughts about food waste on campus in the Google form below: