Composting - Sustainability Hub for Innovation & Environment

The NMU Hoop House serves as a collaborative learning center for eaters of all ages who are curious about where food comes from and how it it grown. Through research and education on sustainable agriculture, the project aims to expand our local food system, improve food security and increase access to fresh, healthy produce.

Composted food scraps provide nutrients to crops grown at the NMU Hoop House. Help reduce the amount of organic material that is dumped in the landfill by dropping off your compost at NMU Hoop House located at the Jacobetti center.

In winter 2024, Dining Services piloted a post-consumer composting initiative with Partridge Creek Compost. 

Eight students were hired to be the "Compost Crew" at the main residential dining hall, Northern Lights. The Compost Crew worked during lunch and dinner shifts, diverting an average of 400 pounds of food waste from the landfill each shift. NMU Dining is exploring opportunities to expand the post-consumer composting program across campus. 

Partridge Creek Compost is a nonprofit which aims to reduce food waste going to the landfill, improve soil health in our county, and educate our community about environmental and social benefits of composting.

As part of Northern's commitment to sustainability, Dining Services has been partnering with Partridge Creek Farm and its newer sister company, Partridge Creek Compost, to divert food waste from the university for use in creating compost. Read more about their partnership here.