By Eco Ambassador Katie Koenig
The final Weigh the Waste event of the year took place on April 26, Stop Food Waste Day. Eco Ambassadors ran the usual routine—tables out upstairs and downstairs with labeled, plastic tubs for weighing waste during the dining period—one last time before the end of the school year. This time, we also gave out Clean Plate Club stickers to diners who threw out no edible food waste!
Unfortunately, despite the progress of reducing individuals’ food waste throughout the year, this time we exceeded even the first semester’s amount of waste. Although this is somewhat understandable with the chaos of move-out and finals, this is still a disheartening result considering students’ recent reductions in food waste. We encourage everyone to think carefully about food waste this summer and come back in the fall ready to get our numbers back down!
In total, students threw out 162 pounds of waste between 6:30 and 8:00 pm while the event was going. That’s 54.6 pounds more waste than during the first Weigh the Waste event this academic year, in December, and over 80 pounds more waste than last month. Each student threw out over two ounces of edible waste on average, an increase of 0.8 ounces of edible waste per capita compared to March. All other categories of waste—inedible compost, liquid waste, and trash—increased at least 0.2 ounces per capita compared to March.
According to our survey results taken during this event, the main reason students threw out food was that they were served too much food.
The top two reasons behind students’ waste were getting served too much at about 35% of responses and having inedible waste at about 20%. However, a very close third at 19% of responses was that students simply didn’t like their food.
Of course, it’s not helpful to force yourself to eat food that you hate, but asking the serving staff in the dining hall for just a taste will let you try a dish without wasting an entire serving. This also helps when you serve yourself too much—this being the reason behind about 16% of respondents’ waste.
Only serve yourself as much as you know you’ll eat, and if you don’t like it, you’ll have to throw out a much smaller portion. For some items, like pre-sliced cake and pie, it’s impossible to get smaller servings even if you serve yourself, but splitting desserts with friends or asking to try a bite of what they get before you serve yourself can still help reduce your waste.
We hold Weigh the Waste events not only to collect data but to help everyone take the time to think about their food waste, and the sheer quantity of perfectly good food that gets thrown away. Overall, take the time to enjoy your summers and the great weather, but keep in mind your eating habits even at home, being mindful of what you eat and what you throw away.
We’re excited to see everyone back on campus in the fall, hopefully returning to March’s encouraging waste results! Get ready to earn that Clean Plate Club badge!