It would be like the compost pile your mother had for her garden, only much bigger.

That’s the vision Amanda Meglemre has for a piece of land on Kansas University’s West Campus, where KU’s food waste, leaves and laboratory animal feces could be turned into fertilizer for campus trees and flowers.

“Composting decreases the amount of landfill space that’s taken up,” said Meglemre, an Overland Park junior and member of the Student Environmental Advisory Board. “Yard and food waste make up about 30 percent of the waste in the United States. And this could be a reusable resource for the campus. Campus upkeep wouldn’t cost as much because we’d have free fertilizer.”

The project had a test run in 1998, when KU started a compost pile on West Campus. Table scraps from Douthart and Grace Pearson scholarship halls were shipped to the pile, along with feces from test animals in Malott Hall.

The Provost’s Office said the project would need a one-year test run before it would commit to a permanent compost pile. But nine months into the project, KU decided to erect a new Facilities and Operations building on the site. The project was never restarted.

Victoria Silva, director of environmental stewardship for KU, said she was working with other KU officials to identify new land for composting.

“The problem is most of the land on West Campus is owned by the Endowment Association,” she said.

She said officials were concerned about using portions of the land because they were near residential areas and other KU buildings.

But Meglemre said she and other students weren’t convinced KU administrators were making the project a priority.

AMANDA MEGLEMRE, an Overland Park junior at Kansas University, is trying to restart a composting program for Douthart and Grace Pearson Scholarship halls. A trial program in 1998 ended when the university used the test location to build a new Facilities and Operations building.

“We’re trying to be more emphatic,” she said. “We feel like they’re not really looking for land.”

Silva countered: “The wheels are turning, but they’re not turning as fast as the students want.”

Jim Long, vice provost, said KU currently ships all bagged trash to the landfill. Grass clippings aren’t bagged, and leaves are burned on West Campus.

Silva said a new compost pile likely would start similar to the 1998 pilot project. If successful, she said, it could be expanded to cover all scholarship halls and possibly the residence hall dining facilities. Leaves also could be included.

She said she thought the money savings would outweigh the costs.

“If we can divert the bulk of bedding waste from our animal care facility and food waste from scholarship halls, we could lower our level of service for waste disposal,” she said. “And the result would be reusable for our landscape department.”