If you think the grass looks a little different around campus this season, you’re right. Thanks to the growth of a pilot program launched by UMass Lowell and a local organic lawn-care expert, chemicals are no longer in use on most of the lawns on campus.
The program, a cooperative effort of John Coppinger of The Green Guy in North Chelmsford and the UMass Lowell Office of Facilities, started on a pilot basis about four years ago. Since then, it has grown to include most of the grass surfaces at the University.
“By producing fertilizer on campus using grass clippings and food waste that would normally be trucked to a landfill, we are taking advantage of a cost-effective method of keeping our lawns healthy while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing the amount of waste entering landfills. The organic fertilizer program is an important part of Chancellor Meehan’s commitment to campus sustainability,” says Thomas Miliano, facilities director.
The key ingredient in the lawn-care program is the organic fertilizer, or “tea,” that Coppinger spreads on the grass. It’s a mixture of lawn clippings, leaves and food scraps from Aramark’s campus dining facilities that he composts on a small plot of land on UML South. Coppinger provides the organic lawn care to UMass Lowell in exchange for the use of the land and the composting materials, says Miliano.
With the use of organic fertilizer, the University’s lawns look natural and healthy, rather than the golf-course green that chemicals would create.
UMass Lowell’s move away from using chemicals to treat its lawns is a big step in the right direction when it comes to protecting people and the environment, according to the Toxics Use Reduction Institute.
“Having UML eliminate the use of chemicals on lawns allows us to feel good about our facilities management at the University and that efforts are being made to convert to environmentally friendly and sustainable practices,” says Joy Onasch, TURI community program manager. “By eliminating the use of lawn chemicals, we are reducing exposure of workers and the public, and also doing our part in protecting the surface waters that collect runoff from University property.”
TURI held a ceremony at the State House this month to honor businesses, organizations and communities for their work in reducing the use of toxic chemicals. Onasch believes UML’s organic lawn care program lends credibility to TURI and its work.
“As TURI supports so many projects across the state in eliminating the use of toxic chemicals in lawn care, it is very important to us to be able to say that the lawns at our office location are managed through organic methods,” she says.
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