Two years ago, UNM's dead leaves were composted at the North Golf Course, but the Physical Plant Department now throws the organic matter out with the rest of the trash.
As of spring 2007, the truckloads of dead leaves that are removed and bagged are dumped in the City of Albuquerque's landfill.
"Up on the north side of the golf course, we used to have a composting facility," said Willie West, grounds manager at the Physical Plant Department.
The leaves had to be moved after the University received complaints about the practice, West said.
"It was more of a 'not in my backyard' type of situation," he said.
West said UNM does not want to compost the leaves on campus, because it might be unappealing to students.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
"The primary reason why we pick them up is aesthetics. It looks better to have a clean, well-kept campus," he said. "(Another reason) is safety. If we were to allow all of the leaves we have to collect, you would not be able to tell what was in those piles.... There's also the risk that somebody could drop a cigarette in (the piles of leaves), and if the leaves are piled up against a building, that could be a problem."
West said the University could use a composting facility off campus but that there are financial reasons to not do so.
"There are some companies closer than the composting site that the city offers, but I would have to pay them to take care of our waste, which is not a very efficient use of our funds," he said.
Miguel Santistevan, a second-year Ph.D. student, has a master's degree in agricultural ecology.
Santistevan said composting UNM's leaves would be beneficial but would require a lot of work and planning.
"I think that would be a great directive for the sustainability initiative that is happening at the administrative level to figure out what kind of infrastructure is needed to turn all of those leaves into compost that could be used on campus," he said.
Santistevan said it wouldn't take very long for the facility to produce compost.
"You can turn carbon into compost in three months if it has adequate moisture, adequate aeration, and the carbon-nitrogen levels are proper," he said. "Otherwise, it could take 10 years or longer."
Santistevan said UNM would need about a half acre of land to compost its dead leaves.
West said it would be difficult to find a large space with a water source to house a UNM compost pit.
"Some people ask why we can't just do that down by The Pit," he said. "Part of it is there's no water, and the second part of it is that I would have to pay for transportation costs to drive there and back. That's not a good use of finances."
Junior Tiffany Hunter said UNM should go with its cheapest option.
"Basically, if it's the cheapest and quickest way to get rid of something, then they should do it if they don't have funding for anything else," she said.
Sophomore Beth Hansen said the dead leaves should be composted despite the costs.
"Isolating the leaves in plastic bags isn't doing anything good except taking up space in landfill," she said. "They're biodegradable, so they should be degrading."
