Stop Loafing Around with Food Waste
Photo by J. Adam Fenster
Dining Services Updates
With the onset of COVID-19 last year, safety was the number one priority. The reusable mug and clamshell programs were temporarily halted for this reason. Fortunately, with evolving safety measures in place with the start of the fall semester, these programs have been reintroduced. This focus on safety also saw an increase in food waste on campus as students would often pick up more food than they needed. With dining halls open again, the hope is to see a dramatic decrease in food waste.
The dining team has also gotten into the practice of using all parts of the food source - whether animal, fruit, or vegetable - with the goal of eliminating waste from the start. Often the parts of fruits and vegetables that go to waste are the most nutritious and tasty. In the back of the house, food is being put away as quickly as possible to avoid spoiling and just enough is being ordered to avoid an excessive volume of product. Cooks and chefs are also being reminded to cut food properly to avoid the amount of edible product going to the compost bin. Years ago, having high compost numbers was the goal. However, Senior Executive Chef Antonio Pignagrandre explains, “I think success now for us is to reduce our compost numbers completely. Are we fully utilizing our food the right way and looking at food differently?”
Campus Compost
All campus dining locations collect pre-consumer organic material to be composted. Managed by dining staff, Douglass and Danforth Halls collect post-consumer waste as well. Overall, 271,480 of pounds of organic material was collected in 2020. While post-consumer compost collection was put on hold due to the pandemic, it is back up and running.
New York Food Scraps Recycling Law
New York State recently passed the Donation and Food Scraps Recycling Law. This law requires that businesses and institutions that generate an annual average of two or more tons of wasted food per week must donate excess food that is still edible and recycle all remaining food scraps if they are within 25 miles of an organics recycling facility such as a composting facility or anaerobic digester. The University is proud to be ahead of the game in its food waste efforts, which are already in compliance with this law!
Rochester City Compost
The City of Rochester is piloting a composting program as part of the Climate Action Plan. Just last month, 850 home composting kits were distributed to city residents which diverted more than two tons of food waste in the first month. Participants collect organic waste in a five-gallon container then drop off that waste twice a week. If you’re interested in joining, call 311 or head to the city’s webpage for more information.
Flower City Pickers
The Flower City Pickers’ mission is to support the local community with free food through the recovery and redistribution of safe but otherwise landfill-bound food. Volunteers collect several tons of surplus produce donated by Rochester Public Market vendors. Collected items are then separated into three categories. Grade A (astonishing) is distributed to homeless shelters and organizations that need produce with a longer shelf life. Grade L (livestock) is picked up by local farmers to help feed their livestock. Grade C (compost) is composted.
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