SNHUs Office of Sustainability participated in an initiative where they tracked waste consumed by students in the dining hall on Tuesday, March 25 and Thursday, March 27. These numbers were tracked both days from 11am to 2pm and 4pm to 8pm.
On Tuesday the office weighed 6 bags of food waste totaling 179 pounds for the whole day as well 9 bags of paper waste totaling 90 pounds.
On Thursday the office weighed 5 bags of trash totaling 172 pounds as well has 9 bags of paper waste totaling 96 pounds.
This means that on average students who eat at the dining hall waste an average of 875 pounds of food waste in a 5 day week.
The Office of Sustainability has recently partnered with the Food Recovery Network who has a mission to combat hunger.
“Food Recovery Network (FRN) unites 8,000+ college students, food suppliers, farmers, and local businesses across the U.S. in the fight against climate change and hunger by recovering surplus food from across the supply chain and donating it to local nonprofit organizations that feed people experiencing hunger.”
40 percent of food is wasted in the United States, totaling 408 billion dollars lost annually. An average family of four wastes 1,500 dollars in food each year and 25 percent of the worlds freshwater goes to wasted food.
Assistant Director of Programs and Initiatives, Pamela Beckvagni, shares the importance of the new chapter with the Food Recovery Network.
“The Office of Sustainability established a great new partnership with the Food Recovery Network which fights food waste and helps feed people in need. We are exploring the option to donate food to local pantry’s after school wide events where leftover food can be brought to a shelter,” says Beckvagni.
An Eco-Rep with the Office of Sustainability, Joshua Albert (25′), wants students to think about the waste they are contributing to. Albert encourages sustainable practices to be normalized for college students.
“If people think about the waste they are contributing and the numbers are correlated with their actions, then sustainable practices will become a norm,” says Albert.
The food waste audit that the office completed is the first step in a new partnership with the Food Recovery Network.
“This food waste audit is the first step in reducing dining hall waste and the possibility of composting and overall better waste management,” says Albert.
To reduce food waste, students can make meal plans to use only the food that is needed and make sure the servers at the dining hall are giving them the amount of food they want to eat. Students can also donate excess unwanted foods to food kitchens.
For more information about the Office of Sustainability check out the website here:
https://www.snhu.edu/about-us/social-impact/sustainability-at-snhu
