A group of environmental studies students are trying to teach some food vendors on campus the power of leftovers.

The group, called Eco-students, are trying to persuade the vendors of the Cesar Chavez Student Center to send their food scraps to the compost pile instead of the landfill and implement a new system which would turn SF State into an “eco star".

“It would make SF State one of the most progressive universities,” said Charlotte Ely, the environmental studies major who heads up what she calls “the compost crew.”

While other universities, like Humbolt State and UC Berkeley, already have compost systems, Ely said the SF State program would place itself ahead of the rest.

The new system would divert the food scraps into green compost bins instead of black trash ones. Norcal Waste Systems, which has introduced this program to 2,000 food-related businesses in San Francisco, charges 25 percent less to haul away compostables. Trash heading to the landfill does not receive the discount.

Last year the crew did a garbage audit to see what SF State was sending off to the landfill. They waded through the university’s garbage in the early hours of the morning and divided the materials into piles of different organics, recyclables, and trash that actually needed to go to the landfill.

Ely and her peers found that 75 percent of what was in the trash didn’t really belong there because it was organic material that could have been composted, Ely said. Another seven percent were recyclables.

In order to improve these numbers, the group is in discussion with student center vendors to change the current garbage disposal system. According to Ely, the vendors have been very receptive so far.

“We’re very, very excited to work with them,” said Edina Bajraktarevic, retail commercial services manager for the student center. She has been helping Ely’s group and the ten restaurants in the student center to communicate.

The group is also proposing putting green bins outside for students to dispose their leftovers in. One of the obstacles will be getting students to actually use them.

Surveys show that of all the people who are on campus everyday, more than 95 percent will walk into the student center at least once, said Bajraktarevic. That means encouraging more than 30,000 students, staff and faculty to throw away their food leftovers separately.

“I don’t see any problem with it,” said David Lay, 21, a sophomore majoring in Music. “And if it’s cheaper for school, maybe that’ll help with the budget cuts,” he said half-joking.

Senior Tony Le, 22, agrees that it’s not too big of a change.

“That’s kind of like throwing the bottles into the recycling,” the entrepreneurial major said. “It’ll only take a second.”

If the student center vendors decide to make the transition, Norcal would provide training for the staff. Robert Reed, Norcal’s communication director, said it takes a lot of coordination for businesses to change a system they’ve been familiar with for years.

“It’s just different from the way people have been dealing with their garbage historically,” said Reed. “Some people hesitate to do it. They’re convinced there is going to be an odor or ick factor.”

Eco-students will also attempt to persuade vendors to replace their petroleum-based utensils with compostable ones. This includes forks, spoons, knives and containers made of corn or potato-based material, and paper products made from sugar cane fibers. But to many of the business owners, money talks.

“If it’s about putting out green bins then I’m all for it, but not the utensils,” said Jack Mizirawi, owner of Café 101 and Natural Sensations. Mizirawi has been in business at the student center for five years and recently looked into switching to compostables. He estimates that a box of plastic forks may cost about $10 verses about $45 for the eco-friendly ones.

“If it was a small percentage increase I would do it,” he said. “Maybe if we gave only one per customer, but we have to leave ours out in the open. People tend to replace their home supply and I can’t sit there and watch them.”

But Ely said saving a little money is not worth the environmental toll.

“There’s the cost of maintaining a landfill, or the cost of global warming,” she said. “All these factors do trickle down.”

Ely’s interest in a compost program was sparked when she took the Geography of Garbage, a class about the alternative waste management systems in San Francisco. Her and her classmates were so impressed by all the things people were doing to reduce landfill trash, they decided to make their own efforts.

“It’s weird to get inspired by trash,” she said. “But we did.”