Each day a growing pile of dead leaves, eggshells, napkins, manure and food refuse decomposes near campus, producing a smell described as "disgusting" by those who venture near it.

A breeding ground for masses of microorganisms with internal temperatures reaching 160 degrees Fahrenheit, the mound has produced a common reaction from the university -- enthusiasm.

"I am very excited about it," said Al Matyasovsky, supervisor of central support services within the Office of Physical Plant. "I'm very proud to be part of a program that has done so well."

Since 1997, the OPP, Office of Housing and Food Service, Hospitality Services and the College of Agricultural Sciences have worked together in an organization called Organic Materials Processing and Education Center to compost a wide array of campus waste. The compost is used in landscaping projects across campus, as top-dress on turf grass and on the intramural fields.

"The driving force is to reduce the flow of wastes to landfills," said Nadine Davitt, research coordinator for OMPEC.

The idea came when a student group asked Housing and Food Services about the possibility of recycling unused food for compost.

"Students that had environmental concern asked the good-neighbor question," Matyasovsky said.

Right now food services collects pre-consumer food waste from all of the seven dining commons, the HUB-Robeson Center, the Nittany Lion Inn, Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel and the Bennet Family Center.

Robert Graves, co-chairperson of OMPEC's executive committee, said that more than a ton of food is collected each day. In addition to food, napkins from the dining commons, leaves, soybean and corn fodder, wood chips and manure from university dairy cows is collected.

Davitt estimated that they collected close to 600 tons of food in the last year.

The material is taken to the composting site where researchers in the College of Agricultural Sciences piled it up into what are known as windrows. Before they can make the windrows, the food must be screened to remove any debris that is not biodegradable.

Each windrow has a specific ratio of food, leaves, manure and other material, which allows it to heat up to promote the growth of microbes that break down the materials.

"Temperature plays a key role," Davitt said.

There are several stages in the composting process, Davitt said. In the first stage, microbes begin the breaking down of readily degradable material, which generates heat. When enough heat is generated, the second stage begins during which different microbes that thrive in hot temperatures breakdown proteins, fats and complex carbohydrates. Eventually, as the fats, proteins and carbohydrates run out, the process goes back to the first stage as the windrow matures. The whole process takes between 10 to 12 weeks.

A machine will turn the pile once or twice a week to make sure that oxygen, which is critical for microbes to grow and multiply, aerates the pile.

Moisture also is important to composting, Davitt said. When it is dry outside, the windrows need to be watered to maintain the required 60 to 70 percent moisture level.

The various members are continuously looking for new materials that can be composted as well as opportunities to expand to a larger site.

"We've been growing the program right from the start," Graves said.

OMPEC is researching the possibility of using construction material such as dry wall and ceiling tile in the compost, Matyasovsky said. It would like to use post-consumer foods -- the food left on the trays; however, at this point, it does not have enough room or manpower to expand in that way.

In addition to its uses in landscaping, the compost has been the subject of class projects and research for many students. One freshmen seminar, Civil Engineering 100T (Topics and Contemporary Issues in Civil and Environmental Engineering: Environmental Leadership), devoted its semester-long environmental leadership project to the composting initiative. Students in the class were required to find something innovative and beneficial to the environment and act.

"They came up with the refreshing idea of taking food wastes from tailgating," said Jack Matson, professor of civil engineering.

The students, who named their project Doing Innovative Recycling Today (D.I.R.T), distributed bags for leftover food to people tailgating before football games. After the games they picked up the bags and sorted through them, since many times the bags contained more than just food waste.

"We put a lot of effort in to this, but people can figure out food wastes from bottles," said Thomas Chorman (freshman-engineering).

Members of OMPEC seem to agree that part of the program's success is how well each of the departments work together.

"Part of it is how your employees accept it," said Lisa Wandel, associate director of Housing and Food Services. "And they've done it with open arms."