Orange, red, yellow and brown leaves fall to the ground as the fall breezes whirl through the trees.

It’s a simple question, but one that cries out for an answer in light of the Iowa State campus being chock full of trees: Just what does the university do with all of those leaves?

Barring a ride on the wind, they never leave campus.

Facilities and Planning Management is constantly trying to keep up with the falling leaves this time of year. “It is a never-ending job. The leaves never fall at the same time,” said Les Lawson, Iowa State’s grounds supervisor.

Prior to 1991, ISU hauled the majority of its yard waste to the landfill. But hauling and disposal costs were on the rise and legislative mandates banning yard waste in the landfill were pending.

In an effort to reduce expenses and comply with the mandates, Campus Services began stockpiling yard waste. But decomposing stockpiled material was too slow of a process.

Campus Services’ Quality Circle group recognized the problem and began investigating composting options. “Through their research of composting techniques and costs, our current compost site became a reality,” Lawson said.

The group received a grant from the Department of Natural Resources, and a new compost site, located on the southwest outskirts of the campus, was built by the campus service crew.

The site opened in December of 1991. Landfill expenses have been reduced by about $30,000 per year ever since.

The crew keeps busy by gathering yard waste from the campus by truck. Leaves are sucked up using leaf vacuums. Five to six people are now on campus leaf duty, but there will soon be 10-15 people cleaning up the leaves.

The campus service crew also manages the compost site. Waste is delivered to the compost site and dumped into four rows.

“Leaves that are dumped in the fall are usually ready to go the following summer,” Lawson said.

The compost site generates about 550 tons of compost per year.

“We use the finished compost and a soil additive top dressing, and incorporate it into all campus landscaping projects,” Lawson said.

The site was the second one built in Iowa. There are now 62 composting sites in the state.