Make Way for Greenway
The partnership between Marist Dining and Greenway Environmental Services turns food waste into a superhero for the environment.
Shabbaz Jackson and Josephine Papagni smiling at Greenway's headquarters in Clintondale, New York. Photo by Shabbaz Jackson and Josephine Papagni
Marist Dining Services partnered with Greenway Environmental Services to improve campus sustainability, composting nearly 1.4 million pounds of organic food waste since 2007. Marist Dining has always been committed to sustainability through their standards of recycling cooking oil and utilizing energy efficient appliances; however, Greenway is helping to innovate Marist’s sustainable practices.
Greenway is a local business in Clintondale, New York that focuses on improving environmental sustainability in the Hudson Valley region. Shabbaz Jackson, president of Greenway, founded his company after working as an environmental director for the city of Beacon, New York.
"What I wanted to do was to develop food waste compost. That was like the last frontier, and they didn't want to do it,” Jackson said. “They didn't want to put anything else into my department. So, in 1996, I quit and started Greenway."
Greenway's vice president, Josephine Papagni, solidified the company's mission to clean the waters of New York state. Papagni explained how composting helps conserve lakes, streams and rivers, making it essential to preserving the planet.
"You can tell the health of society and of our environment by the condition of our water," Papagni said.
When Marist initially partnered with Greenway, the college attempted to compost its food waste on-site by installing a machine in the dish room. After a few years, the dining room began to smell, forcing Marist to call Greenway back for a solution.
Now, the composting process begins with the dining hall staff. They weigh and track any kind of leftover food before putting it into the compost bin. “The dining hall staff are in charge of creating the compost stats we receive, so they play a really important role in the composting process," Marist Dining's sustainability intern, Jamie Goodman ‘23, said.
The waste is then delivered by truck to Greenway's facility, where it is inspected for contamination. The process culminates over the next few months as water is absorbed by the compost and produces heat. The final product generates fertilized soil that contains bacteria that consume contaminants in local waters.
"What we set out to do was to create all of the tools that nature has from the organic waste produced by this area," Jackson said.
Greenway's composted soil is located all over Marist. "All of those lawns and all of those new sidewalks and all of that area around the new buildings, that's all our soil," Jackson said.
Marist students can play an active role in the composting process and help improve sustainability on campus. Goodman advises that students only take the amount of food they believe they will eat.
"Of course it’s not easy to always determine the exact portion you need, but the point here is to not pile food onto your plate if you have a feeling you won’t be able to finish it anyway,” Goodman said. “There is always the option to go up for seconds, and with each student keeping this in mind, food waste can be significantly reduced."
Composting helps reduce the effects of climate change because the compost is essentially made of carbon. As Jackson described, returning the carbon to the soil places it back into the ground and keeps it from polluting the atmosphere.
For Jackson, working with Marist is a full circle moment. He was a member of the first graduating class of the college's Upward Bound program, which helped him receive a full scholarship to Stony Brook University.
"Marist was a real influencer from a young age and then through the success of this business,” Jackson said. “Marist had a major role in where we are right now."