Residents of retirement community launch ambitious new mission: 'We want to make a difference'

A retirement community in Iowa City, Iowa, is proving you can do your part to help the environment and make the world a better place at any age. 

With a community mindset and help from a city grant, residents in the Oaknoll retirement community managed to divert 11,000 pounds of food waste from landfills via composting in a mere three months. They aim to divert 70,000 pounds within the next year, The Gazette revealed. 

Since organic waste products create methane as they deteriorate, they are responsible for a large amount of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere, making the amount of waste diverted significant. The community's compost is removed to a landfill alternative that is zero-waste, turning trash into nutrient-rich compost perfect for use in gardens. 

In 2022, residents of Oaknoll became curious about whether composting could be an option for the community and spoke with dining services director Bruce Titus about separating food and other compostable items at the community restaurant, the Press-Citizen reported. Titus supported the plan, as he had previously implemented composting at his former restaurant. 

Titus unsuccessfully applied for a state grant the following year to cover the associated costs of starting a composting program, per The Gazette, but a handful of residents donated a little over $10,000 in total to set up the program. 

Eventually, the composting program was awarded $9,122 from Iowa's Climate Action Grant program, which went to purchasing compostable bags and composting bins for the residents.

According to The Gazette, Titus said, "We've got young staff that are really dedicated and want to do this. But we also have residents that are, you know, in their 80s and 90s that are saying, 'Hey, we want to make a difference. Let's continue to do this.'"

This isn't the only sustainability project Oaknoll residents have undertaken, either. In 2023, resident Sara Rynes-Weller helped found the Oaknoll Sustainability Committee, per The Gazette.

Just a few projects this committee has worked on include strengthening their recycling program (which has been around since at least 1999), educating residents on electric vehicles, and building community gardens. 

The Sustainability Committee isn't the first resident committee dedicated to eco-friendliness and sustainability, though, as previously there was the Future Committee. 

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The current committee operates a bit differently, though. Rynes-Weller explained to The Gazette, "We had to do things that the Future group didn't have to do. … We have to report once a year to the resident council, so that made it more formal and gave it more credibility."

The Sustainability Committee doesn't plan to stop with just composting, though. They have big sustainability plans for the future, such as reducing the amount of pesticides used in the community and offering more vegetarian options in their restaurants. 

CEO Steve Roe told The Gazette, "Most of our residents are very environmentally conscious, and we must keep up with their expectations."

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