The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently recognized Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri for successfully reducing its overall volume of municipal solid waste and to for implementing innovative food recovery and waste recycling programs.
The University’s Dining Services’ composting efforts have resulted in the diversion of over three hundred tons of uneaten or unusable food waste since 2011. Dining Services oversees campus cafeterias for students, faculty, and staff as well as smaller, dining cafes in select buildings and residence halls. The food scraps and waste collected by Dining Services is transported to St. Louis Composting where it is used for creating compost. WUSTL Facilities Department then reuses the compost for landscaping the campus grounds. In addition, the University is also utilizing cage-free eggs, locally produced fruits and vegetables, napkins made of 100% recycled materials,and compostable containers. Whenever possible, the university also donates edible food to Campus Kitchens, which provides meals for the homeless and needy in the community.
In addition, the WUSTL program is responsible for recycling more than twenty three thousand gallons of waste kitchen oil for use in campus-owned biodiesel delivery vehicles. The University was also the very first in North America to remove the sale of plastic bottled water on campus grounds – and decision which is estimated to have taken almost four hundred thousand bottles out of the waste and recycling stream.
WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Regardless of your business sector, food waste is generated on your premises every day employees are at work. What policies or opportunities do you have in place to help reduce the amount of food waste going to landfills? Making a few changes can help you to save money and the environment!