On game days, the trash bins in Krzyzewskiville quickly become filled with an unappetizing mixture of food scraps, disposable containers and plastic cups. A student-run initiative is helping to divert K-Ville’s compostable waste before it reaches landfills.
Student volunteers in the K-Ville Zero Waste program remove compost from trash bins before home men’s basketball games. A collaboration between the Green Devils, Duke Student Government, Duke Athletics, Duke Facilities Management and K-Ville Line Monitors, the program operated during the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons, during which 67 bags of compostable waste were diverted from landfills.
The program went on hiatus during the 2020-21 season due to COVID-19 but returned this season. Fifty-seven bags of compostable waste have been diverted from landfills so far.
“Since [the Green Devils] put on the event, we try to get volunteers from student organizations, classes or service fraternities,” said junior Pooja Lalwani, project lead for the program.
During a select number of games, volunteers work two shifts for two hours each. During the first shift, volunteers go through trash and recycling bins to sort out items that do not belong.
Volunteers remove items like food wrappers, food waste and compostable containers. Anything compostable goes into a compost bag.
“Even the utensils from [Brodhead Center] are compostable, so you can put those in the compost bag. And soiled cardboard can go in the compost bag. Paper towels can be compostable. And then once we're done with [sorting the bins], that's the first shift,” said sophomore Emily Nagamoto, a shift leader for the program.
During the second shift, volunteers set up stations around K-Ville that contain trash, recycling and compost bins so people walking around the area can dispose of their items. During this shift, volunteers teach passersby which items are compostable and which are not.
After the second shift, volunteers collect all the compost bags and bring them to the drop-off point behind the Intramural Building. Duke Athletics takes care of recycling and trash, according to Nagamoto; the compost bags are picked up by CompostNow, a company that turns the food waste into compost, according to Rebecca Hoeffler, program coordinator for Sustainable Duke.
Being a volunteer comes with a huge perk: tickets to some of the basketball games.
“We offered tickets for the Jan. 25 Clemson game. We had so many people sign up and wanted to get tickets, but we couldn't accommodate all of them, so I'm trying to accommodate for our next games,” Lalwani said on Feb. 12.
This season, the program planned to operate during five home games, but two operations were canceled due to poor weather conditions. Volunteers held “post-sorting” sessions after the games to make up for the cancellations.
Lalwani is grateful that she’s able to lead the program.
“This program shows that Duke's willing to work with students. And you know, I'm really grateful that they allow me to have a space where I’m really passionate about helping the environment,” she said.
Nagamoto hopes that students “become more aware of where to put their waste” through programs like K-Ville Zero Waste and other composting educational campaigns.
Hoeffler facilitated the program by connecting Green Devils with stakeholders such as Duke Athletics. She hopes to see the program implemented on a wider scale.
“It would be great if [on game days], there was some sort of pledge or commitment for students to sort their waste and not leave any waste behind, treat it like a camping trip—‘pack it in, pack it out’ type of thing,” she said.
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Katie Tan is a Trinity senior and digital strategy director of The Chronicle's 119th volume. She was previously managing editor for Volume 118.