On most campuses, dining service operations are responsible for generating and managing enormous amounts of waste including packaging, cardboard, food, and napkins. With the fast food trend growing on college campuses, disposable food ware has increased the food service waste stream. Campus catering services are also incorporating more disposables and compostable items into their operations.

Depending on the size of the student population, a college campus may have multiple dining facilities that offer various forms of dining including: campus catering, all-you-care-to-eat sit down, purchase-by-item sit down, take out, and snack and fast food types of eateries. On some campuses, at certain times of the year, dining service operations are open around the clock. From procurement and production to the serving line and check out counter, decisions are made that impact the waste stream. Many food service options are available for reducing kitchen waste while diverting items through recycling and composting.

Many schools contract out the campus food services. Some contractors are becoming more competitive by incorporating sustainability and waste management (e.g. waste reduction, recycling, composting, bulk foods etc.) into their operations. Consider researching how a contractor performs at other colleges and how that school is utilizing creative contracting to encourage green practices.  

Research
Research the food services waste stream on campus to determine what types of materials are generated, what can be recovered, and how to reduce overall waste generation. 

Inventory the dining operations in order to answer several questions: 

• Are facilities operated in-house or contracted to a non-campus entity?
• Is there more than one contractor?
• How many facilities are there?
• Where are these facilities located?
• What are the operating hours in each of the dining service locations?
• Who is responsible for purchasing?
• What are the primary components of the waste stream?
• What is currently being done with the waste?
• What kind of space is available for recycling collection stations?
• How is food served?
• What types of disposable items are generated?
• What contracting opportunities exist to reduce waste generated through the fast food operations? (If the fast food operation is a chain, does the chain have related policies?)

Performing a visual waste audit in meal preparation areas, followed by a more in depth audit of the dumpsters located by food service areas, is a useful strategy to know where to begin. In addition, assess the item storage and purchasing processes. This information is valuable and will provide the opportunity for a thorough overview of the solid waste stream and strategies for reducing it.                                               

Reduce
Start with reduction, beginning with purchasing changes in order to minimize waste, cost, and need for additional space to accommodate single serving packaging.

• Purchase in bulk.
• Dispense bulk milk into a reusable cup
• Dispense soda by the fountain instead of from a can or bottle
• Buy fresh fruits and vegetables packaged in reusable crates or canned produce in #10 recyclable steel cans.
• Buy spices, oils, margarine, and sauces in quart or gallon quantities.
• Purchase flour in large quantities and have it pumped directly from a truck to a storage facility.
• Work with the purchasing department to include contract language to reduce unnecessary and unrecyclable/non-compostable packaging.
• Encourage kitchen managers to monitor the quantity of food that is cooked, but not served. This saves money and valuable food resources.
• Reduce disposable foodware whenever possible and charge for any disposables that are used.
• Encourage the use of refillable cups; sell these in dining facilities, the bookstore, and at various events throughout the year. Proceeds can benefit the purchase and distribution of mugs to future students.
• Rent disposable foodware to students to use throughout the year or use a deposit system. Students will be issued a plate, spoon, fork, or reusable Tupperware-like lunch container with tableware included to use throughout the year at dining facilities.
• If disposables are used, purchase foodware that is inherently compostable such as paper food boats and plates and wooden chopsticks. Fees for disposable tableware will help fund the purchase of more durables.
• Use low-maintenance durables such as plastic baskets with compostable paper liners. Wash the plastic baskets for reuse and compost the food soiled paper. 

Whether to use durable service ware or disposables is a long debated issue. Initial purchase of durables, how to ensure that items are returned to the proper locations, and creating and funding washing facilities are just some of the concerns of food service managers. Space and labor are necessary to collect and wash durables. Consider electricity, water, and sewer expenses, as well as potential theft of service ware. In a sit down facility, durables are more likely to be used, while take-out facilities are typically designed to use disposables. Franchise packaging considerations are made in a boardroom and are written into contracts. If disposables are unavoidable, try to reduce the impact as much as possible through education programs.

The following are measures that can be taken to reduce food waste by minimizing the amount of food that is purchased, then not eaten:

• Educate students to raise awareness about food waste and empower them to make decisions to reduce personal food waste: take small portions, and then go back for more.
• Conduct food waste audits and publicize the results (on posters or table tents) so that students will be aware of how much pre and post consumer food and napkin waste is generated during an average meal.
• Design meal charges based on portions as opposed to all-you-can-eat buffet style. This will reduce the portions of food that people take and therefore the amount that will be thrown away at the end of the meal.
• Get rid of trays in cafeteria areas. This will encourage smaller portions to be taken. Diners can always go back for more, but will be less likely to take more than they can eat if they do not have a tray that can hold multiple dishes.
• Reduce plate sizes to encourage smaller portions to be taken.

Pre and post consumer food waste also needs to be dealt with in order to minimize impact on landfills. Here are some ideas on how to prevent valuable meals and food scraps from being wasted:

• Save food that has been cooked, but not served, to donate to local food banks. Request records of recovered food quantities to assist kitchen managers in reducing food preparation waste, while supplementing campus waste tracking.  
• Work with a local garden project that can accept pre and post consumer food scraps for composting systems.
• Utilize local pig farms to dispose of pre and post consumer food waste. Ensure that food is transported to farms in a timely manner so that pigs will be less likely to suffer from food born illnesses.

Napkins are expensive items that overwhelm food service waste streams. Take the following steps to reduce the impact from paper napkins on the campus waste stream:

• Since napkins are not easily eliminated in food service areas, educate students to take fewer napkins at each meal. Table tents and signs on napkin holders are very effective because the educational material is right in front of students as they sit down to eat.
• Purchase chlorine-free napkins in order to promote more sustainable production practices and reduce chlorine's negative environmental impacts.
• Purchase napkins made from post consumer recycled content paper. This is not only better for the environment, but will help to create a closed loop system: paper collected on campus will then be recycled into paper napkins that can be purchased by and used on the campus before being composted into soil for use on the campus grounds.

Recycle
All campus food service areas generate recyclables that are easy to identify and separate. The most commonly generated materials in a kitchen area are:

• Cardboard
• Glass
• Metals
• Plastics
• Low-grade paper

 

Work with Campus Kitchen Staff Members

• Set up conveniently located recycling areas with well-labeled bins.
• Post easily readable guideline posters for all kitchen staff to reference.
• Educate kitchen staff through trainings and question and answer sessions (these are most helpful if held semi-annually). 
• Work with kitchen staff to meet their challenges in integrating recycling into other job responsibilities.
• Check in regularly with the kitchen staff to answer questions and trouble shoot any issues so that the job will be made easier for everyone.
• Show appreciation for the kitchen staff through promotional items such as T-shirts, mugs, and canvas bags with the recycling program logo and a waste reduction message. These also create an incentive for kitchen staff to pitch in with the recycling effort. 

RECYCLING...so simple, it WORKS!

Resources

Food Packaging
http://www.thesite.org/healthandwellbeing/fitnessanddiet/food/foodpackaging 

Green Restaurant Association
http://www.dinegreen.com/ 

Inform Report: “Getting an ‘A' at Lunch”
http://www.informinc.org/pages/research/waste-prevention/reports/112.html 

National Wildlife Federation Campus Ecology Program
http://www.nwf.org/Global-Warming/Campus-Solutions.aspx#dining 

Related Articles                                              

“ASU Student Designs New Container to End Food Packaging Waste”
http://sustainability.asu.edu/news/gios-news/beardsley-buying-in-bulk-story 

“Reducing Food Packaging Waste.” Ode Magazine Online
http://www.odemagazine.com/exchange/1295/reducing_food_packaging_waste

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