Governor Honors Mark Darling for Campus Waste Management

New York governor George E. Pataki has recognized the efforts of alumnus and physical plant utility worker Mark Darling '97. Darling (in photo, explaining the process to visiting students) was presented one of five Year 2000 Governor's Waste Reduction and Recycling Awards for Achievement of Excellence for his forward-thinking solid waste management programs at the College. Governor Pataki announced the awards on October 20, honoring those making significant contributions to New York State's ongoing solid waste reduction and recycling efforts.

Darling manages the College's day-to-day composting program, which since 1992 has been processing a portion of dining hall food waste. With partial financing from an Empire State Development grant, for which Darling wrote the proposal, the College recently built a new composting facility. Opened on October 14, it composts 100 percent of the food scraps - totaling nearly 450 tons each year - from the dining halls, giving Ithaca College the most comprehensive composting program of any higher education institution in the nation.

Conceived primarily as a way to combat steadily increasing landfill tipping fees, the composting program has helped slash the College's hauling costs, reduced stress on its equipment, and generated a useful by-product that has meant significant cost savings for a landscaping program that once relied heavily on imported topsoil. The program has also been of major benefit to the environment by reducing the flow of waste to landfills.

The new facility is also being used as a learning tool — not only for the techniques of waste management, but also for integrating environmentally conscious behavior into campus life and curricula. Darling, who has been certified by Cornell Cooperative Extension as a "master composter," volunteers his time in the community to teach backyard composting. He also serves on the board of the New York State Association for Reduction, Reuse, and Recycling.

Shortly after it opened in October, the new composting facility hosted a visit by students from Lansing Middle School. Above, Mark Darling shows them the area where composted food scraps are "cured" for two years before being spread on College grounds.

Other campus waste management projects for which Darling was cited in the award include his effort to collect used textbooks for donation and his development of the "Take It or Leave It" program, which collects and donates reusable materials discarded by students when residence halls close at school breaks. Last year, food and clothing were donated and a variety of student room staples were put aside to be sold at a yard sale run by the Ithaca College Environmental Society. The proceeds are helping the club's campus-wide environmental programming efforts.

Darling was the only individual to be honored by the governor this year. The other recipients of the award were the Monroe County Department of Environmental Services, Auburn Steel Company, Long Island City Business Development Corporation, and Broome County Division of Solid Waste Management.