A scene from any perfect graduation or wedding, the view from hilltop Bellarmine Hall at Fairfield University displays a breathtaking panorama of Long Island Sound and the nearby coastline.
But tucked out of sight just a short walk away is a main contributor to the suburban Connecticut campus’s beauty: piles of rotting organic waste compiled in the woods just to the east of the former aristocratic estate. Welcome to the world of composting at Fairfield University.
“It’s all of the natural things we’ve raked up and that we’ve cleaned up,” said Theodore Hunyadi, operations director for the university office of campus operations. “We try to turn it up even better.”
Guarded by a carved wooden stag head and the revolting smell of natural waste at its entrance, the composting facility is a stark contrast to the trimmed lawn and flowered gardens of Fairfield’s signature building. The unpaved road sealed with a chain that leads to the composting area also seems unusual in the vicinity of a frisbee golf course.
Dr. Lisa Newton, director of the university’s environmental studies program, defended the facility’s location behind the picturesque administrative building. “It seems to be very discreetly located,” she said. “Smell is OK; nature’s way of clearing chemicals out of things.”
The infield-sized site has also helped Fairfield cut the amount of refuse that would normally be sent to a landfill or incinerator considerably by letting it decompose naturally into reusable material.
Hunyadi, whose department is responsible for the site’s maintenance, could not provide statistical totals of recycled garbage, but said that composting has “really reduced our waste stream so much.”
“Be very wary of chemical-deodorant thinking,” Newton said, emphasizing the usefulness of composting. “We tend to think that if something isn’t clean, neat, polished plastic-like surfaces, absolutely odorless, it’s ‘dirty,’ wrong, bad, dangerous.”
Some students were astonished to learn that Fairfield has a composting site behind its administrative building.
“I am surprised and I did not know a thing,” said Ken Dunaj ’02. “I believe it is a good thing, but it should be behind the old barn.”
“I never knew it was there, but there’s nothing that the area really could have been used any better way,” said J.P. Marini ’04. “If no one sees it, I really don’t think it hinders the look or the facilities of Bellarmine.”
Another purpose served by the facility, which is also comprised of tree cuttings lining the dirt road and a small composted hill now covered with grass at the top, is that of a barrier to prevent erosion. The area stands directly behind maintenance buildings near the bottom of the Bellarmine Hall’s stately hill.
“All of the stuff we rake up, all the grass and lawn clippings, are all also used for erosion control,” Hunyadi said.
Although unsightly in comparison to surrounding areas and relatively unknown to the campus community, the composting area has not presented any ecological or fire-safety problems since its inception, according to both Hunyadi and university Fire Marshall Joe Bouchard.
“There have been no problems in the past. We’ve got properly utilized topsoil,” Hunyadi said. “Heat is a natural product of the fermentation and decay process.”
Fairfield is not alone among colleges looking to reduce amounts of conventional waste. New Mexico State and Washington State universities both have publicized composting programs, as have Montreal’s McGill University and Cornell.
“Let things rot. That’s the best way to get elements back into nature where they can be used,” said Newton. “We need more compost piles.”
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