Sam Skuza
Contributing Writer
For many students, the convenience of the dining hall is something everyone learns to expect and rely on, but what about the food we thoughtlessly discard? The problem of food waste is present on many college campuses. The journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics states, “College campuses in the United States waste approximately 22 million pounds of edible food annually.” About 40% of all food produced in the United States goes uneaten each month, which amounts to about 20 pounds per person. Of this food, 60% is still edible, meaning we can avoid letting it go to waste.
According to The College of Wooster’s website on recycling, Creative Dining partners with the local composting service, Paradise Composting, to compost all pre- and post-consumer food waste in the dining hall for most of the academic year. These efforts reduce the amount of waste sent to the landfill and our overall greenhouse gas emissions, all while helping create a rich compost. Many students on campus care about environmental issues like food waste, which is shown by the school’s initiatives to reduce our carbon footprint (CO2e). I think more projects like this are worth doing since food waste is one of the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters. The World Food Program USA states, “Roughly one-third of food produced for people is lost or wasted—about 1.3 billion tons a year – even as millions of families struggle to afford enough to eat.”
It is not just the food being wasted, it is also the resources that it takes to make it. This includes the land, water, energy and labor that went into growing, storing and transporting it. These costs may be minor individually, but together they add up quickly. Not only are there environmental damages, but this issue is also an economic one. The World Food Program USA states, “Globally, one trillion dollars’ worth of food goes to waste every year. That’s one-third of all food produced for human consumption.” Students can take simple action to practice lessening food waste; they can plan out meals, avoid buying unnecessary foods, donate food they don’t want and use a freezer to make foods last longer. The United Nations also lists cutting food waste as a top action for decreasing emissions. Food that ends up in landfills produces methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that stays in the atmosphere much longer than carbon does, creating a faster warming effect on the Earth. The United Nations website also advises only purchasing what you really need, using what you buy and composting any leftovers. Cutting your food waste can reduce your carbon footprint by up to 300 kilograms of CO2e per year. This information should be more accessible to students on campus.
I challenge students and faculty at the College to take sustainability goals a step further by purposefully tracking and informing people of the food waste the university creates. In the same way we have posters up educating students on the importance of recycling, we can include information about the problems associated with food waste, specifically in dining halls like Lowry. This messaging can evoke a sense of pride in students who want to identify as active participants in this community goal. This could also include considering impacts when making individual choices, like putting less food on our plates and coming back for more if we still want it later, considering the consequences of our actions and promoting others on campus to do the same. Some may approach these issues by shaming people for their behaviors, but to create real change, I encourage the opposite. This is not about guilting each other; this is about creating a community where people can express their values and create meaningful projects.
Education on these topics is a catalyst for change. Education cultivates a space that encourages critical engagement with societal issues. Studies on the impact of education and communication on behavioral change explain how challenging biases and fostering inclusivity can empower individuals to become agents of positive change. When it comes to shaping norms and expectations, communication is a powerful tool for conveying shared objectives. When groups create clear intentions and goals, it helps create a collective understanding and feeling of connection. This alignment can further drive cooperation, collaboration and coordinated efforts toward achieving common objectives.