Colleges Excel With Food Waste Recycling Efforts

Seven institutions for higher education throughout the New England region have been recognized by the United States EPA for their commitment to improving and enhancing their waste reduction by initiating food and organic waste recycling programs.

The colleges and universities that received the Achievement Award in the Food Recovery Challenge for reducing food waste on their campus communities were: Clark University, Middlebury College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University, Keene State College, Suffolk University, and the University of New Hampshire.

The combine effort from the seven schools resulted in diverting more than twenty five hundred tons of organic waste and food scraps from regional landfill. Diversion method included campus based composting programs, food donation efforts and others.

Throughout the United States, over thirty four million tons of food scrap and organic material waste was generated in 2010. Food waste has one of the lowest landfill diversion rates nationally with only three percent being composted or used to create alternative energy.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: We all need to eat but what are you doing to reduce the amount of money spent on disposing of your food waste? Whether you own or manage a business, or are just trying to contain expenditures for your household budget, take a hard look at what you buy, how much you buy, and how much you need to throw away. You might be able to save on those weekly and monthly food expenses!