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NEWS
| NOVEMBER 18, 2005
It’s a Dirty Job
The campus composter turns refuse
into fertilizer for university grounds
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| The Shorthorn: Sara Bookout |
| Campus composter John Darling
compiles used food products from Dining Services,
coffee grounds from Java City, grass and leaves raked
from around campus behind the Environmental Health and
Safety Office Building. “If it stinks, I’m
not doing my job,” Darling said about his compost
heap. |
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By Kim
McQuire
Contributor to The Shorthorn
John Darling turned over the pile of compost, marveling at its newest
addition of a corn-oil-plastic coffee mug.
Darling, a former Biology Department staff member, is the new campus
composter. He said he once was a curator for the university’s
biology research museum that contained “many odd science-type
things.”
Now he picks up waste from Dining Services, such as used coffee
grounds and other debris to add to his growing compost pile behind
the Environmental Health and Safety Office, recycling events coordinator
Becky Valentich said.
As the campus composter, Darling said he picks up an average of
100 pounds of kitchen waste every day, which he mixes with water
to form the compost. The mixture is used to fertilize campus landscaping.
“I believe the university is benefiting because they are not
paying to throw those things away,” he said. “And the
nutritional value of compost is going right back into the university
landscaping beds.”
Darling said the key to the compost pile is seeing the use in seemingly
useless trash.
“The less I throw away, the happier I am,” he added.
“Especially if it’s useful.”
His life with plants began reluctantly when his wife urged him to
grow a garden at their home, he said. When the City of Arlington
offered a class in composting in 1996, Darling said he learned more
about the compost process and its benefits.
After the class, he began sitting in on Environmental Health and
Safety meetings as a volunteer and made a compost pile for the university.
He said he joined a group of people that worked at a native plant
demonstration site at Arlington’s Veterans Park.
“I fell in love with the idea of using native plants to landscape
intelligently,” he said. “It has many of the same benefits
of compost.”
Darling also informed students of the benefits of compost during
Texas Recycles Day on Tuesday with the campus’ recycling program.
Valentich said that Darling will hold the position until August
2006. The Environmental Health and Safety Office will then evaluate
the compost’s progress and decide whether or not to keep Darling’s
position, she said.
Craig Powell, Environmental Health and Safety director, said he
wanted Darling to fill the position because he has been dedicated
to his position even before it was available. Powell added that
Darling and a city consultant are hoping to win a joint grant between
the university and the city to expand the composting program.
“He believes in what’s he doing, so it wasn’t
a hard decision to make,” Powell said. “He’s the
hardest working man in compost.”
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