ampus news EDITOR MORNA CASSIDY THE VOICE, THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2012 3 Zee DENNIS PAGE photo Langara’s composint gprograms is integrated with the college’s community gardens. Campus compost 101: a crash course Students need to watch where they throw refuse to help sustain 16-year organic waste program By DENNIS PAGE id you know that Langara has a composting program? It does, however, the 16-year-old pro- gram, does not get the same lev- el of student participation and expo- sure as other Langara_ recycling programs. Frank Williams, chair of the biology department and coordinator for envi- ronmental studies, said that although students and faculty participate in re- cycling paper and bottles on campus, there are still those who put garbage in the cans and vice versa, this results in recyclable material being wasted, in- creasing costs and pollution. “If we put all this organic material into landfills, it comes out as methane, and methane is a significant global warming gas,” added Williams. At Langara the bulk of the compost- ing material comes from the cafeteria preparation area, which generates three to four 20-litre buckets a day. An additional one to two buckets come from the Student Union Building food service area. Another challenge associated with composting is how to collect the waste. Having composting containers located in the hallways with the recycled bot- tles and papers is not practical due to the nature of the waste. Compost material is rotting, organic waste, which creates bad odors and at- tracts bugs and rodents. There is currently one composting receptacle for student use located in the cafeteria beside the microwaves. Despite the small amount of organic waste collected from individual stu- dents, the upside, according to Wil- liams, is that the college does capture the majority of the recyclable material. The compost that is collected is later used as fertilizer for the community gardens on campus. “T think the most successful part [of the program] is that the students who go around and do all the collecting and mixing learn a lot,” said Williams. Heather Johnson, a second-year en- vironmental studies student, is run- ning the composting program at Lang- ara this year. She is responsible for collecting the compost from the bins, mixing it and then shoveling it into the community gardens. “TPeople] really need to be conscious of the waste [they] generate,” said Johnson who puts in five hours a week with the composting program. Mario Moniz de Sa, assistant chair of the biology department and Langara Community Garden Soicety member says that he has been able to reduce his garbage by about 75 per cent once he started composting. DENNIS PAGE photos Top: Heather Johnson and Mario Moniz de Sa tend to Langara’s compost. Bottom: Nutrient rich layers of compost degrade over time until it can be mixed with soil and used in gardens. New plan needs $$ Langara’s rezoning application seeks to accommodate changes to potential new facilities that aren’t yet funded By CARA MCKENNA expansion is undergoing some up- dates despite the fact that the school doesn’t know how they will pay for it. “No funding for the proposed expan- sion is in place. We are continuing to work with internal and external com- munities in developing our overall mas- ter plan ... so we will be ready when opportunity presents itself to go for- ward with construction,” said Wendy Lannard, representative from the facili- ties department, in an email. Lannard added that the reason for the changes to the rezoning application was to give “easier access to students” but that they are “still developing [their] master plan” and that they don’t know how much it’s going to cost or who is going to be funding it. The plan, which has been ongoing since 2005, includes the already com- pleted Students Union building and li- Aes master plan for Langara’s brary and expands to include a Cre- ative Arts building and a Student Services and Sciences building. The schoo] has applied to the city for rezoning to increase the allotted space they’re allowed to use. Also, the location of the two pro- posed buildings has switched places from the original plan. The Creative Arts building will now be located on the south-end of campus behind the library, and the Student Ser- vices and Sciences building will be lo- cated in front of the library on the edge of campus. The plan itself is still in the process of being completed and since no fund- ing is currently in place, it will continue to be fine-tuned by architects and by the Langara facilities department. An open house will be held on March 8 in the A Building from 4 to 7 p.m. where students and members of the community will have an opportunity to ask city officials questions and view the full proposal. > —— — ~__W 49th AVENUE ie rs ’ acm : d FUTURE less 56m SCIENCE AND ; ‘STUDENT ses [fy Sub Area 4 a, 5 T = <= BUILDING bE - FUTURE A is ILD : Sub “ 14 Area 3 He ~X Lsu I a aa rh 2 \ FUTURE Sub Area BUILDING CREATIVE ARTS 2 8 2 16.3m D CITY OF VANCOUVER image Overview of Langara campus and the proposed new buildings. LSU ‘resigns 2 members Student council has low tolerance when it comes to elected members who are not dedicated to the job By AUDREY MCKINNON mously voted to force the resigna- tion of two board members for ab- senteeism. One of the agenda items at the Feb. 6 LSU meeting was the resignation of Ex- ternal Affairs Coordinator Candy Tran and College Board member Muneori Otaka. The two former LSU board members, who could not be reached for comment, were considered resigned by the board after missing too many meet- ings in a row. “Tt is fairly common. The rules clear- ly state that if two meetings in a row are missed without adequate reason [it] will result in immediate dismissal,” said board member Eli Zbar in an email. Tran missed four out of eight execu- tive committee meetings since being elected and Otaka missed two out of eight. In the board meeting attended by the Voice, board members discussed Tran and Otaka’s probable reasons for missing meetings. Zbar said that Tran had texted him earlier in the day to ask if she was still on the board. Otaka was thought to have given priority to an internship. The LSU bylaws state that members are considered to have resigned after being absent from two meetings as long as two-thirds of the board mem- bers vote in agreement of it. The vote Te: Langara Students’ Union unani- to remove these two members before spring break was unanimous. “If you can’t keep up with your du- ties, you really shouldn’t be occupying a seat just for the sake of it,” said Sid- dharth Gautam, Board Member at Large. Gautam said because Langara is a transfer college, one of the main rea- sons that people run for the LSU is to meet the extra-curricular activities re- quirements of universities. LSU board members are also com- pensated an undisclosed amount for their time in meetings. If they have not attended a meeting, they do not get paid for that time. The reimbusement tendered to members is in lieu of time missed from classes for adminsitrative responsibilities. Gautam nominated himself for a re- sume-building position as co-chair for the Special Events Committee before Christmas and admited that having that on his resume was a part of his mo- tivation for wanting the position. But Gautam also said that keeping strict rules for members who can’t keep up with their requirements elimi- nates problems that come with being motivated by having a seat in the LSU just to build up a resume. “If you have an executive that’s not showing up to meetings and who’s not able to keep up with the responsibili- ties that have been assigned to him or her, we take action,” he said. The LSU did not have any statistics on how many times resignations have ocurred. Board meetings take place every other Monday and can be attended by the public. The next meeting is Mon- day, March 5 at 4:30 p.m.