On Tuesday, Houghton College Eco Reps and Sodexo partnered for a “Weigh the Waste” event to raise awareness about food waste.
This week was Sodexo’s Wasteless Week, a week where the company is especially mindful about how to cut down on waste that occurs in the dining hall. This year, food waste was the focus.
To collect data about how much food is wasted during one meal, volunteers from Eco Reps collected the waste from students’ plates before they were sent to the dish-room. The waste was collected in buckets, which were then weighed.
According to an article published by Jean Buzby in the journal ScienceDirect, almost half of all calories produced by animals and less than one-fifth of those produced by crops in the U.S. go to waste. During Tuesday’s dinner, 81.25 pounds of food was wasted. “That weighs as much as a small human,” said Gabrielle Papia ‘19. According to this data, 12.6% of the food that was prepared went to waste.
“I want to thank our Student Sustainability Intern and the Eco Reps for facilitating the Weigh the Waste event. We hope that this event encouraged student awareness and behavior change as they make food choices and select amounts of those items,” said general manager of Sodexo, Kathie Guyler.