Although NuScent’s human practices efforts have been primarily focused on the local Boston area and Northeastern University’s campus community, we also found opportunities to share our composting initiatives on a much greater scale. As we spread awareness of our project on campus, we connected with a recent Northeastern alumna who is now working with the Elizabeth Warren campaign. Through this advantageous use of our alumni network, we were presented with the opportunity to meet with the Deputy Scheduler of Warren’s office here in Boston.

During our meeting, we shared our project’s background, the goals we wish to accomplish, and our thoughts on what ideal composting practices should look like on both a state and federal level. This consisted of presenting our personal experiences with composting and discussing what other countries do to maintain highly effective composting practices. We aimed to provide feasible solutions to improve composting conditions for individuals who live in urban settings, specifically targeting how to best tackle the issue of space. Our project and initiatives were met with a lot of support. All information discussed in our meeting was then taken from the Massachusetts office to the Washington D.C. offices to further push awareness of both our project and composting initiatives. We were also greatly encouraged to reach out to the City of Boston and Mayor Michelle Wu’s office to find ways to work together with our local government, which we actively are working on and remain committed to pursuing, despite a lack of communication from her offices. This led us to broaden our efforts and search for ways to promote composting on any scale, even including a more focused search of groups within our Northeastern community to work with. Given the nature of Warren’s current campaign team and the senator’s work thus far on advocacy of green initiatives, we hold the support we were met with to a very high regard and greatly appreciate it.

NuScent chose to survey Northeastern University students about their experiences with composting to gain a better understanding of how to better promote composting on campus. This survey specifically targets Northeastern University students because we would like to create a composting initiative that helps fellow college students become more involved in sustainability. We hope to use our project and wet lab research to encourage more of our peers to start composting now and continue composting in the future.

In our survey, we decided to ask a few demographic questions to better understand which groups the survey population involved. We asked students which year of college they were in to collect age demographic data, and whether they lived on or off-campus to assess how much they rely on the facilities Northeastern University provides to be able to compost. To start, the survey asked students whether they knew what composting is and how much they know about what could be composted. This allowed us to gauge the level of knowledge Northeastern students currently have about composting and to see whether more education was needed. Next, we asked questions specifically about composting at Northeastern University, such as whether the student knows Northeastern participates in composting and if they pay attention to what they put in the composting bins in the dining halls. Then, it asked if the students compost in their dorms/apartments and why or why not. This was to learn what some of the major obstacles are for composting as a college student. Lastly, the survey asked about what would make them more likely to compost. Additionally, the survey asked if students would be more likely to compost if the bin itself smelled nicer to gain direct information relating to our project. These final questions provided insight into what initiatives could be created to increase the number of Northeastern students who participate in composting.

The survey received results from a wide variety of students. Almost all respondents reported that they were aware of what composting was. Only 15% of respondents reported a score of 2 or below on a scale of 1-5 when asked if they knew what types of food could be composted. The survey was filled out by Northeastern students, however only 2/3 were aware that Northeastern has a composting program, which points to a lack of communication from the school. Over half of respondents reported that they eat at Northeastern dining halls, yet when asked if they were conscientious of where they put their waste, results varied heavily. Additionally, over half of the respondents reported that they live off campus, while an overwhelming majority reported that they do not compost in their dorm/apartment. When asked why or why not, the majority of respondents reported that composting isn’t convenient enough to be worth the effort. One respondent reported: “We would have to go out of our way to set it up and it smells bad”. Another said: “I find it difficult for multiple reasons- I am not necessarily educated on the methods of composting, and it seems like it would be difficult to do within my apartment because of things like smell, space, etc.”

Figure 6. This question from the survey confirms that the majority of Northeastern students know what composting is.

Figure 7. This question asked whether students know what can be composted, with 1 being they know nothing about what goes into compost and 5 being they are experts in what goes into compost. Over 50% of respondents replied that they are comfortable with what belongs in the compost bins.

Figure 8. This question was to see if Northeastern is effectively communicating with its students about its compost efforts. This shows that Northeastern is not educating 1/3 of students about its sustainability practices.

However, about ¾ of respondents said that they could be convinced to start composting, and the remaining reported "Maybe” when asked if they could be convinced to start composting in the future. When asked what would make composting easy enough to be worth doing, almost 100% of responses reported convenience relating to accessibility and smell. One respondent said: “If it’s not so smelly and attracts flies and insects”. Another said: “If it didn’t smell and/or attract fruit flies, accessibility to a bin”. 81.8% of respondents reported that they would compost if it smelled better.

The results of the survey will impact multiple aspects of our project, from what we will focus on within the lab to the design of our hardware. Both people who lived on and off campus participated in the survey, most of which were living in either small dorms or apartments. Many indicated that one of their reasons for not composting was lack of space, lack of access to the composting bins, and worries about the bin attracting vermin and flies. Surveyors indicated that they would be more inclined to compost if these issues were addressed. For the hardware aspect of our project, we hope to design a compositing bin that fulfills Northeastern students' needs by being easy to use, fitting within small spaces, and protecting against vermin.

Other reasons that were frequently brought up within the survey included complaints about the smells that would crowd student already small and difficult to live in spaces. Approximately 81.8% of surveyors responded “Yes” when asked if they would participate in compositing if the smell could be better controlled. We believe this issue could be addressed within the wet lab, by designing and altering biochemical pathways of bacteria to produce better smelling compounds within compost. That way, students in our community would be able to compost without dealing with harsh smells. Mitigating this would also overall reduce the attraction of vermin and flies to the compositing bins.