Sustainability at Harvard

Composting at Harvard

Why?

Composting breaks down organic waste (mainly food scraps and landscape waste) back into nutrients that can be mixed with soil to enrich it. Composting is one of the most basic ways of recycling waste and is an essential part of Harvard’s recycling program.

Composting reduces the amount of waste that we send to the landfill in New Hampshire, reducing greenhouse gases by reducing fuel used for transport. Discarding organic trash into a landfill generates 21 times more greenhouse gas than composting.

Harvard’s Facilities Maintenance Organization (FMO) completes the loop by using compost in place of chemical fertilizers in many of the lawns it takes care of.

Where?

There are many opportunities for composting at Harvard, including:

  • Dining halls
  • Dorms/apartments
  • Events
  • Cafes
  • Offices/Schools
  • Daycare centers
  • On-site composting
  • Vermiculture
  • Compost tea

See the “Who?” section to find out who is composting at Harvard.

How?

Contact the Harvard Office for Sustainability and Harvard Recycling to help you set up a program.

Coming soon:

  • Guide to event composting
  • Guide to office composting
  • Guide to vermiculture

Signs and resources related to composting are at the bottom of the page.

Who?

Composting has spread far and wide across the Harvard campus- including:

Undergraduate Dining halls

  • Adams
  • Annenberg
  • Eliot/Kirkland
  • Lowell/Winthrop
  • Dunster/Mather
  • PfoHo/Cabot
  • Quincy

Dorms/apartments

  • Adams House
  • Dudley Co-op

Events

  • Arnold Arboretum (FAS)
  • Chemistry & Chemical Biology (FAS)
  • Divinity School
  • Education School
  • Harvard Alumni Association, Major Reunions
  • Kennedy School
  • Organismic & Evolutionary Biology (FAS)
  • School of Public Health
  • University Operations Services
  • Weatherhead Center for International Affairs (FAS)
  • YardFest

Cafes

  • Belva’s (HUDS/Divinity)
  • Buckminster’s (HUDS/FAS)
  • Chauhaus (HUDS/Design)
  • CGIS Café (Sodexo/FAS)
  • Gato Rojo (GSAS)
  • Rock Café (HUDS/Divinity)
  • Sebastian’s (HUDS/HSPH)
  • Spangler Food Court (HBS/Restaurant Associates)*
  • Harkness Commons (HLS/Restaurant Associates)
  • Elements (HMS/Restaurant Associates)*
  • Courtyard Café (HMS/Restaurant Associates)*

* pre-consumer waste only

Offices/Schools

On-site composting

  • OEB Greenhouse
  • Arnold Arboretum (in conjunction with FMO’s Harvard Landscape Services)
  • 175 North Harvard Street (FMO’s Harvard Landscape Services)

Vermiculture

  • FAS Green Program

Compost Tea

Learn

Composting

Vermicomposting

Resources

coming soon…