By TAYLOR STUCK, The Herald-Dispatch
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Not many squeal with delight when they see an oversized tractor-trailer carrying a massive steel drum, but Amy Parsons-White did Tuesday morning.
Just before noon, the truck transporting a commercial digester for Marshall University’s new commercial composting facility pulled into the lot on Norway Avenue, making Parsons-White’s 2 1/2-year-long dream come true.
The composting facility will be the first commercial facility in West Virginia and the second largest university-run facility in the country behind Ohio University.
Parsons-White, the manager of the Sustainability Department at Marshall, said other universities have already reached out to her to learn more about starting their own facilities.
“A couple universities in the state have already reached out and are working with us to develop their own commercial compost facilities,” she said. “We see this as something that could spread across the state and create more green infrastructure and more green jobs in the state as well.
“If every state-funded university had a compost facility in their community, that’s a lot of jobs and a lot of savings for the people in the community.” …