How much of your dinner are you throwing away? Probably a great deal — and on campus, food waste is a growing problem. From the restaurants within the Idaho Student Union Building to The Eatery, there are many dining options for students. With so much food available, it’s normal to think that some of it will be thrown away. But just how much?
According to Sarah Dawson, the University of Idaho’s Sustainability Director, UI throws away on average 33.5 tons, or 67,000 pounds, of food monthly. This equates to about a ton, or 2,230 pounds of food waste a day. That’s about the weight of a small car. There are spikes at the beginning of semesters, showing that more food is wasted.
Dawson oversees the campus’s sustainability program, so she has significant knowledge of the waste issues on campus. Dawson’s team has been working towards a solution for food waste, including introducing more recycling initiatives and planning for a composting system at the school. She hopes to have the composting system brought into effect by Spring 2024, with her team already rolling out training on composting for back-of-house employees in the ISUB and The Eatery. The Eatery, according to Dawson, is the biggest food waste culprit and she wants to bring it to zero-waste levels. Though there isn’t a composting system at UI now, there are drop-off points located in Moscow, one being at the Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute. According to Dawson, the school recycles about 38% of all discarded materials, which is higher than the national average of 33%. However, there is still a massive amount of garbage being sent to the landfill.
The Eatery serves at least 1,100 students for dinner, according to Mo Desouky, Resident District Manager of Idaho Eats. Desouky oversees much of The Eatery’s operations and notices the amount of food being discarded. As many would guess, dinner is the biggest culprit for food waste. So why are students throwing away much of their dinners?
Desouky believes that students often feel burnout by dinnertime. “By dinner, students are relaxing and enjoying their meal, unlike other meals where they try and eat and then get quickly to class,” Desouky said. However, this level of waste could also be tied to a variety of different sources.
Desouky also notes that Eatery staff overserving students may be a contributing factor. He says some staff will load a student’s plate to ensure they are satisfied and won’t have to come back for seconds.
However, the main cause of food waste seems to be a lack of awareness by students, according to Desouky. As a way to combat this, he plans to implement elements of exposure. One idea is to install a large waste bin, measured on a scale, for students to add food waste. This would allow students to visualize how much food they are discarding. This also aligns with Dawson’s approach to the solution of this pressing problem, bringing more awareness to students.
Both Dawson and Desouky request mindfulness from students when shopping for dinner. Students often don’t realize how much food they are grabbing or being served, and being more cognizant will make a huge difference. Dawson encourages students to “get just what they can eat.”
“Dawson encourages students to ‘get just what they can eat.’”
The recommendation for change is to be more vigilant. Waste is especially prevalent within landfills, as 24% of total municipal waste is food, according to the Food and Drug Administration. UI food waste ends up in the landfill, despite the efforts of Dawson’s team to recycle.
During the coronavirus pandemic, the Moscow campus ceased recycling practices due to “lots of contamination among the recyclables,” Dawson said. Contamination comes from food and liquid residue and makes items unrecyclable. The school implemented a single-stream form, following the end of the pandemic as a way to slightly introduce a recycling method. A single-stream method of recycling is where all recycling is combined, making most of the recyclables contaminated. Although the system isn’t perfect, it does prevent some waste from going to the landfill.
According to the University of Colorado Boulder, “along with methane, landfills also produce carbon dioxide and water vapor, and trace amounts of oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and non-methane organic compounds. These gasses can also contribute to climate change and create smog if left uncontrolled.” This demonstrates how harmful landfills are to the environment, so with students discarding so much of their meals, they are contributing to environmental issues.
The next time you load your plate for dinner, remember that what is thrown away doesn’t just disappear.
