March 03, 2025
Visit SIU’s Forced Air Compost Facility Thursday for tours, award presentation
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s Forced Air Compost Facility will receive the We Compost Award from the Illinois Food Scrap and Composting Coalition during a special event on Thursday, March 6, featuring tours of the facility and a brief presentation.
The event, set for 2-3 p.m., at the University Farms facility at 3689 W. Pleasant Hill Road in Carbondale is free and open to the public. Organizers ask that if possible people planning to attend sign up online to help facilitate planning.
University Farms and the Jackson County Health Department submitted the application, which resulted in the facility being recognized for its outstanding accomplishments and for the facility and its staff, volunteers and operations being brought into the We Compost Recognition Program Green Level Partner community.
SIU’s Forced Air Compost Facility opened in 2014 as an initiative to increase sustainable practices across campus. Funding came from the student-supported Green Fund, supplemented by an Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity grant.
Multiple campus entities work together to collect and convert tons of dining hall food waste into rich organic compost each year via the forced air or aerated static pile composting process. The finished product is then used to add organic matter, nutrients and diverse microbes back to campus farm vegetable and grain fields. Thursday’s presentation and tour with the Illinois Stewardship Alliance will be happening in conjunction with Soil Health Week in Illinois.
Leading the Forced Air Compost Facility operation are the School of Agriculture Sciences, Facilities and Energy Management, the Office of Sustainability and University Housing.