Residential Compost Program

Residential composting for students living on campus

All on-campus residents are now eligible to sign up for IU Indianapolis's first campus-wide residential composting program! 

The IU Indianapolis Residential Compost Program allows on-campus residents the opportunity to collect organic waste, including food scraps, unbleached paper, plants and more, to be picked up and composted off-site. All educational information and composting materials will be provided to participants free of charge. 

IU Indianapolis is committed to preventing and diverting organic waste, on- and off-campus. All IU Indianapolis students, faculty, staff are now eligible for discounted residential compost pickup services. 

Questions?

If you have questions about the Residential Composting Program, don't hesitate to reach out! 

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IU Indianapolis Residential Compost Program

All on-campus residents living at Ball Hall, North Hall, University Tower, and Riverwalk Apartments and Townhomes are now eligible to enroll in residential composting services. Upon reading the program guidelines, residents may sign up to receive all materials needed - free of charge!

To ensure the success of the residential compost program, only those who are fully committed to the responsibilities that come with in-home compost collection are encouraged to participate. If not done properly, composting can become a nuisance to roommates and floormates, and could compromise the program for all participants.

The Residential Composting Program was catalyzed by student leadership from the IU Indianapolis Graduate and Professional Student Government (GPSG), who passed a resolution calling for the initiation of residential composting on campus. A multi-partner collaboration, the Residential Compost Program is administered by IU Indianapolis Sustainability and Housing and Residence Life, while composting services are provided by Earth Mama Compost.  

How do I sign up?

Although all on-campus residents are encouraged to enroll in the compost program, we are seeking participants who are truly committed to composting accurately and with care. To ensure your success in doing so, please be sure to thoroughly review our program guidelines. 

Download Guidelines

To signal your interest and agree to the program guidelines, you must submit a sign up appliciation form. Applications are collected and reviewed on a rolling basis, which means you can sign up any time during the academic year. Applicants can expect to receive a confirmation email with further instructions within a week of submitting the sign up form. 

Sign up to Participate

All composting materials will be provided to applicants shortly after submitting the sign up form. Composting materials include:

  • Compost Basket 
  • Basket Liners 
  • Educational Materials 

Composting Pocket Guide

While it's important to reduce our food waste, it's equally important to ensure that we're composting correctly! Sending non-organic waste into our composting streams contaminates other compostables and threatens the success of the program. We know it can be confusing differentiating what is and isn't compostable, so we created a guide that will quickly help you get it right! 

Compost Pocket Guide

Additional Resources

Award Winning Program

The Riverwalk Composting Program was named the 2021 Campus Race to Zero Waste Case Study Competition winner in the Food Waste Reduction Category. This achievement was made possible by robust collaboration among all program partners across campus. A special thanks to Aspen Grieshaber, the Sustanable Waste Management Intern who lead the development and launch of the Riverwalk  Composting Program.

Off-Campus Composting Discount

All IU Indianapolis students, faculty, and staff are now eligible for discounted compost hauling services. Those who live within Earth Mama Compost's area of service (Marion County, Zionsville, Greenwood, Carmel, and Whitestown) will receive a 25% discount on their hauling services. Simply sign up using your university email address and make a note in the comments section of the form!