When students eating in the dining commons place their trays on the conveyor belt to be washed, they might not know their food scraps can be seen all over campus -- in compost.

Recently, the State College borough decided to develop a plan to increase recycling by turning food waste into compost in a project similar to the existing Penn State program.

The Penn State initiative, which began in 1997, keeps organic waste products from going into the dumpster or the plumbing system through trash disposal.

Michele Newhard, special programs training coordinator at Penn State, said a study conducted in 2000 on Redifer Commons concluded, on average, each student had 0.4 pounds of waste on their trays.

"The study helped us determine if it was actually possible for us to move ahead on the collection of food waste," Newhard said.

Nadine Davitt, manager of Organic Materials Processing and Education Center at Penn State, said compost created from food waste is used on campus in landscaping dressings, perennial beds and soil blending efforts.

"The compost creates a healthier soil and a healthier environment," Davitt said. "We are a captive facility, which means we process materials that are generated in Penn State and utilize them through the university."

In 1997, dining commons began using a separate trashcan for napkins, Newhard said.

"[The initiative] has been successful because it takes place in all seven dining commons, Union Street eateries, and the hospitality services on campus," Newhard said. "By having customers throw away napkins in a separate place, 91,193 pounds of paper waste has been kept out of landfills."

Mark Whitfield, State College public works director, said the borough hopes to start a three-year pilot program to take organic waste and turn it into compost.

"We looked at Penn State for what they are doing for green waste and food waste," Whitfield said. "It's more difficult when spreading 8,000 people over 400 or 500 homes as opposed to four or five dining commons. The collection costs go through the roof."

The borough would encourage various institutions, including grocery stores, restaurants, State College Area High School, nursing homes and eventually residential areas, to separate waste.

Penn State hopes to expand its own project in the coming years if funding becomes available because equipment to separate the post-consumer green waste from the other waste is costly, Newhard said.

"We have explored the option for equipment to do this safely and efficiently, but we would have to install pulpers on each dish machine," she said. "Pulpers break down food waste, extract as much liquid as possible. The liquid goes down the plumbing and the food scraps go to another receptacle. The equipment and the other aspects of installing the equipment can be very costly."