When students head back to Gettysburg College for the beginning of the fall semester, sophomore Brandon Fey will continue to work on a project he initiated last year to enhance agriculture and the environment in Adams County. The two-phase composting project has the dual goal of enriching the soil, decreasing dangerous landfill waste gases, and doing something positive with food waste.
“This is about agriculture and sustainability and has the potential to positively impact my new community,” said Fey, a Philadelphia native.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has stated that unwanted food and yard waste comprise 28 percent of what is thrown away in landfills. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, about one-third of the food intended for human consumption is lost through waste.
While properly composted food waste can percolate into what farmers call “black gold,” a soil brimming with plant supplements, food tossed into a landfill generates dangerous levels of methane and carbon dioxide (C02) gases. A 2021 EPA report estimated food loss and waste in the U.S. “embodies 170 million metric tons of CO2, equal to the emissions of about 42-coal-producing plants.
Fey embarked upon his idea after being accepted into the Strategy and Leadership in Transformational Times (SALTT) program offered by the Eisenhower Institute at the College.
SALTT allows students to work one-on-one with Eisenhower Expert-in-Residence and Chairman Emeritus, Susan Eisenhower. Fey credits Eisenhower with helping him develop strategic aspects of the project. He has created surveys for residents, visitors, students, farms, and restaurant owners to gauge interest in area compost initiatives. https://forms.gle/XNUrrQMybdcKUJCVA
“Brandon Fey has shown remarkable energy and skill in his effort to bring composting to Gettysburg,” Eisenhower said. “He has accumulated the data showing that this is possible.” The former president’s granddaughter added that Fey has turned his ideas into an action plan and has done an extraordinary job of bringing people together. “This is not about Gettysburg’s past, but its future.”
Fey has received about 150 survey responses thus far and several farms and restaurants have shown interest in the composting project. Recently he has secured the partnership of Gettysburg’s Old Sword Farm, managed by a composting expert who will serve as the inspector of the operation. “We are working to create a training program for farmers who are interested in getting involved by processing compost on their grounds,” Fey said. He has also established a partnership with a second local farm and was approached by a second restaurant interested in providing its food waste.
Fey hopes to see Phase 1 of the project in progress by early spring. The collected restaurant food waste will be delivered to participating compost farms where it will be shaped in long lines of piles, called windrows, measuring about six feet in height and twelve feet in width. The resultant material requires manual or mechanical rotation periodically and takes about three to nine weeks to produce composted material, depending on environmental conditions. That product could be sold back to the community.
While residential composting units are typically only for raw fruit and vegetable waste, windrows can manage raw or cooked foods, including meat and dairy products due to the process’s heat.
Phase II of the project will provide area residents and visitors with composting solutions, either through curb-side pick-up or the establishment of a drop-off site, like the one that serves the Painted Turtle Farm at Gettysburg College. Fey hopes to create this service without involving municipalities or tax increases, through a subscription fee.
Adams County Farmers Market manager, Reza Djalal said that he was interested when Fey approached him with the idea because he has recently received independent inquiries from vendors and customers about composting in this area.
“Farmers markets in general have a shared mission of supporting agriculture and the environment,” he said. Djalal is interested in exploring composting programs in Adams County and seeing what grants might be available to bolster the idea.
In Pennsylvania, there are several policies in place to promote food waste reduction and sustainability including a grant program that encourages commercial food waste recycling, the Good Samaritan Food Donation Act, which protects food donors from liability when donating food to non-profit organizations, and the Farm Bill that supports farmers in managing food waste through composting and other sustainable practice.
Djalal provided a booth at the Adam’s County Farmers Market, where Fey uses the space to offer information about composting and encourage survey participation. He credits Djalal and Eisenhower with being “indispensable to my project.”
Fey grew up in a suburban part of Philadelphia with a family who liked to grow things. “I’ve always had an interest in agriculture and sustainability,” he said, adding that composting seems to embrace both by reducing waste and benefiting the soil. While back home for the summer, working as a freelance journalist, Fey is conducting broad research to see how some areas in the U.S. are providing composting services.
Fey is an Eisenhower Scholar pursuing a double major in History and International Affairs. In addition to his coursework, he will serve as the News Editor of The Gettysburgian student newspaper. He is a Civil War Institute Fellow and an officer in the Alexander Hamilton Society.
Featured image captions:
Left: Gettysburg College sophomore Brandon Fey has partnered with the Gettysburg Eisenhower Institute, the Center for Public Service, and the Adams County Farmers Market to create a project for reducing waste and improving soil through composting. (Photo by Reza Djalal)
Right: Fey worked with a group that designed this compost bin which is located at the Gettysburg College Painted Turtle Farm. (Photo by Brandon Fey)
Judith Cameron Seniura is a freelance reporter. She began her journalism career in the early ‘70s and has written for newspapers, magazines, and other media in Ontario, Canada, Alaska, Michigan, Nebraska, San Antonio, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.
Congratulations Brandon for this amazing endeavour! I look forward to participating in this enterprise!
Kudos to you, Brandon. It’s people like you who give me hope for the future.