Category: Opinion – Enivornment

by Courtney Wight '26 on November 13, 2025

Have you noticed the bin off to the side of the dish return in Ray Dining Hall and wondered what it’s for? Do you know the bin is for composting, but are just unsure of what to put in? These are all great questions with relatively simple answers.

Providence College implemented composting programs in all of the on-campus dining halls, including Ray, Alumni Dining, and the Diane Parrett R.N. Cafe. From April 2022 to September 2025, across all dining locations, 639.9 tons of compost have been collected. Whether it is students putting their uneaten food into the bin by the dish return or dining hall employees composting in the back, all these individual efforts are extremely important to minimizing food waste on campus.

Composting is an easy way to reduce food waste. The process allows for food scraps that would be thrown away and left sitting in landfills to be transformed into soil that can be used in gardens, farms, or various other sites. This creates a more stable economy as the food waste can be funnelled back into the system, providing nutrients for soil to grow more food. This process is extremely beneficial because, at the same time it reduces food waste and minimizes the production of ethane, it also enriches local soil, helping local farmers.

Composting can be done on various levels. Obviously, on-campus composting is on a much larger scale than an individual household. Nevertheless, building these sustainable habits is important. 

Growing up, my grandma always composted her food scraps at her house and then used them in her own garden. While this is not on the same scale as PC, it taught me from a young age the importance of reusing what one has. Many of the scraps she was putting into the composter were from her own garden, creating a cycle with minimal waste.

The compost on campus is different from a regular at-home composter. While an at-home composter may only take scraps from fruits or vegetables, the compost in the dining halls can take all food scraps. So, if the chicken at Ray was looking particularly disgusting and you didn’t eat it, no worries—just put it in the compost bin before placing your plate on the dish return.

At the moment, composting for students is only an option at Ray, but employees at Alumni and Mondor compost all food scraps back-of-house. I know sometimes it is stressful at the dish return, especially when you’re late for class, but composting only takes a minute. So, next time you’re at Ray, try to make an effort to place your food scraps into the bin and help minimize the food waste our campus produces!