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how to reduce food waste. Senior social work major Christina Santucci said the group does this because if more people are educated on composting, then they will be more likely to use the composting resources that are available to them at JMU.

The organization was created this fall by a group of senior social work students for their macro social work class. So far, the Composting Initiative has created informational Instagram posts about composting, worked with JMU Dining to get information about the current state of composting at JMU and looked into how JMU Dining will try to reduce food waste through composting.

Through research and working with JMU Dining, Santucci said the Composting Initiative has found out a lot about how JMU has been improving its composting efforts.

Since 2013, JMU has partnered with Black Bear Composting. In this partnership, JMU collects food waste in the dining halls and Black Bear Composting transports the compost to the compost compactors, where it’s then taken to Royal Oak Farm in Elkton, Virginia.

JMU also encourages students to participate in composting through the compost bins that are available in dining halls such as E-Hall, Festival and Gibbons Hall. These containers accept food waste, napkins, paper towels, cups and containers and pizza boxes.

While these compost bins are a great start, Santucci said JMU could do better as the ones in Festival were taken away due to a lack of education and motivation to use them correctly.

But the most ambitious project the group’s pursuing is creating an educational campaign on composting at JMU in partnership with both Dining Services and the Office of Orientation and Transition. Santucci said she hopes this program, once it’s in place, will create a change in how students look at their environmental impact.

Santucci said the main issue right now is that most students aren’t educated on composting and food waste. She believes that if more students are educated about food waste, then there can be some real change on campus in regard to composting and throwing away food.

“JMU, in and outside of classrooms, needs to put a greater emphasis on creating this new normal in order to have students correctly using bins properly and disposing of waste correctly,” Santucci said. “The school can also work on creating their on-campus front-of-house facilities to have more compost-friendly food containers and utensils to ensure that less waste is happening on our campus.”

For Waldron, food accessibility and food waste is all about how it impacts other people. Food waste and accessibility also impact the local and global environment, so she said if students did more things like educate others about the issues or donate punches or food to others who need it, then both issues could be combatted. “I think for food accessibility, students should be aware of it because it affects the people around them, as well as themselves,” Waldron said. “We all want to be able to eat what we choose, but for some, we have such limited options. I think if a larger percentage of students knew how hard it is to find certain foods that follow certain diets, we could come together to make change.”

Avery Goodstine contributed to this report.

CONTACT Morgan Vuknic at vuknic@dukes.jmu.edu. For more on the culture, arts and lifestyle of the JMU and Harrisonburg communities, follow the culture desk on Twitter and Instagram @Breeze_Culture.