College Receives $93,000 State Grant to Expand Farm Composting
College Receives $93,000 State Grant to Expand Farm Composting
Dickinson Website
November 8, 2007
Dickinson College has been awarded a $93,000 state grant to purchase equipment that will enable the campus farm to expand and accept more organic materials from existing and new sources, including local businesses.
The grant will allow the college to compost an additional 91,000 pounds of material annually. The finished compost will be used at the college’s organic farm in Boiling Springs, where it grows fresh produce that is used in the campus dining halls and donated to needy families in the Carlisle region through Project S.H.A.R.E.
Dickinson plans to use the grant to purchase a pulping and extractor machine, which will enable the college to accept more food waste. Other grant funds will be used to purchase a front-end loader, pickup truck and manure spreader for use at the farm.
“About one-third of what goes into our landfills is organic waste, such as grass clippings, leaves and food scraps,” Gov. Edward G. Rendell said while announcing nearly $366,000 in strategic state investments to Dickinson and five other organizations across the state. “The businesses and nonprofit groups receiving these grants can take these materials and process them into garden mulch, soil amendments and other products for sale. This is a good example of how we can create new opportunities for businesses as we protect our environment and help our communities.”
The funding is from the Compost Infrastructure Development Grant Program and helps for-profit businesses and nonprofit organizations incorporate organic materials into manufactured products. It also increases the amount of organic material processed at composting facilities.
Dickinson was the only organization in south-central Pennsylvania to receive a grant; the other grant recipients are in Centre, Tioga, Schuylkill, Montgomery and Jefferson counties. Of the six organizations, Dickinson received the largest grant.
The grant announcement comes two weeks after Dickinson received an overall grade of B+, and was singled out as a campus sustainability leader, in the 2008 College Sustainability Report Card, which examined sustainability activities at colleges and universities with the 200 largest endowments in the United States and Canada.
Dickinson received an A, the top rating, in five categories, including Food and Recycling.