By: Sustainability Coordinator, Jacqui Moy
Throughout the year, Emerson sustainability has weighed diners’ waste in the Dining Center during a dinner period on a monthly basis. We do this to collect data, increase awareness about food waste, assist with waste sorting, and gain feedback from diners about the causes of food waste. Since 2022, we have held these events and tracked data. Here’s a review of our performance throughout the 2024-2025 academic year and a comparison to the last academic year.
Please note that the February and March weights are lower than the actual amount of waste produced during these events. New locations for waste bins were introduced in February and we were not able to close off these additional bins while weighing until the April Weigh the Waste event. We therefore did not capture data for waste thrown in those unmonitored bins in February and March.
Waste by Category
On average, we saw a decrease in edible compost of around 19 lbs per event between the 2023-2024 academic year and the 2024-2025 academic year! There were slight increases in inedible compost and trash, and a decrease in liquid. As is seen in the chart, edible compost is always the highest category of waste during these events.
Excessive food waste is an issue in the United States at large; over one-third of food produced in the US is never eaten (EPA 2021). This results in the need to dispose of the wasted food, while also resulting in a waste of resources it takes to get that food to your plate. Thus, Emerson’s sustainability and dining teams focus our efforts on trying to reduce this category as much as possible.
Ounces of Waste Per Diner
We measure ounces of waste per diner by dividing the total amount of waste by the total number of people who ate in the Dining Center during the Weigh the Waste event. There was a significant increase in ounces of waste per person towards the end of the academic year. On average, this is 1.84 oz per person throughout the academic year. This is a decrease from last year’s average of 1.94 oz!
Survey Results
At each event, diners were surveyed as to why they had leftover food. They could pick from any of five answers that applied to them. Out of 465 responses over the course of the year, 40% were served too much, 21% didn’t like the food, 21% took too much, 12% had inedible waste and 7% ran out of time to eat.
Thank you to all who participated in Weigh the Waste semester! This data is crucial to helping reduce our waste. You can check out results from individual months on our Instagram. We look forward to seeing you all next year for more events and don’t forget to stay aware of your food waste over the summer!