If green is the new black, then the University of Washington is one of the trendiest campuses in the nation.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the UW is the second most eco-friendly college in the country, behind only the University of Colorado, Boulder. The UW’s high ranking is largely due to the fact that Housing and Food Services (HFS) recently teamed up with International Paper and the Coca-Cola Company to create an ecotainer cup that is 100-percent compostable.

Compostable cups and straws have been in use since November of 2008, but HFS only recently added biodegradable plant-based lids to the menu. The new soda lids were officially implemented in the residence halls and on-campus eateries Oct. 6. Now, all cups, containers, plates and utensils are made from corn, reed and sugarcane.

At first, the plant-based utensils proved troublesome because, while they broke down in the soil, they also tended to disintegrate in warm liquids like soup. Small alterations have solved this problem.

In March of 2010, HFS hopes to introduce a compostable hot-foods lid, the final step toward 100-percent compostability.

“Food Services at the UW feeds more than 30,000 customers daily,” said Micheal Meyering, the project manager of HFS. “Providing the campus community of faculty, staff and students with the opportunity to participate daily as environmental stewards by diverting waste created during the dining experience to composting and away from landfills.”

And while eco-friendliness is still relatively new, small projects like these have already made a considerable impact on the university. In 2008, the UW disposed of 540 tons of compost material; that’s 400 more tons than had been delivered to Cedar Grove Composting in July of 2006.

HFS attributes the success of the program to the students.

“The way to get students to compost is to make it easy,” said senior Krysta Yousoufian of Students Expressing Environmental Dedication (SEED). “The lid is small; it doesn’t generate that much waste, but having a compostable lid makes it that much easier. Removing that extra step — having to take the lid off the cup — is just one less excuse [students] can make for not composting.”

Members of the UW’s SEED have contributed greatly to these green policies. SEED was founded in 2002 after several concerned individuals realized that the residence halls lacked enough recycle bins to meet student demand. The group also banded with Seattle Public Utilities in an effort to swap out all incandescent light bulbs on campus for energy-efficient compact light bulbs.

The UW is hardly new to environmentalism. The administration has been encouraging sustainability in all aspects of campus life, including construction projects, cleaning services and the residence halls.

For instance, the UW partnered with Seattle City Light in 2006 in an effort to convert to 100-percent renewable energy. The innovative program saved the university $200,940 in utility costs within a single year. Go-green efforts didn’t end there: In June of 2007, the UW switched to recycled copier paper. And in October, Custodial Services incorporated fragrance-free soap and microfiber mops into their cleaning routine.

“We’re really pushing our vendors to produce compostable and sustainable products for us, and they are responding,” Meyering said.

The UW may be one of the first local institutions to reduce their carbon footprint, but they won’t be the last. This past January, Seattle restaurants were required to stop using Styrofoam in place of more eco-friendly alternatives. And by July of 2010, food-based companies will be instructed to replace toxic products with compostable or recyclable containers.

“This is the future of composting,” said Yousoufian. “We are pioneering something here with the hope that someday composting will be like recycling. It will go from the fringes to the mainstream; everyone will be doing it.”

Reach reporter Celina Kareiva at news@dailyuw.com.