Category Archives: College

Friday Buffet

Here are some ideas on Obama’s food policy. Strange that there’s no mention of a Food Waste Czar. He must want to keep it hush-hush. — — Reminder: Nov 26 is your last chance to submit your comments on the proposed Green Seal Environmental Standard for Restaurants. — — OK, University of New Mexico, it’s […]

November 14, 2008 | Also posted in Composting, General, Processing Plants, Restaurant, Trayless | Comments closed

Session Notes, Reduced

In addition to witnessing my first buffet outage, I actually learned a thing or two at yesterday’s AASHE conference. In a session called “Food, Dining and Compost,” I heard folks from the University of British Columbia and the University of Washington talk about their composting programs. First, good on them for composting. But my main […]

November 12, 2008 | Also posted in Composting, General | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Sure, Virginia helped elect our first African-American president, but they wouldn’t compost at Mr. Jefferson’s University, would they? — — And while UVA may be composting, one dining hall at Portland State is attempting to go zero-waste. Oh, that’s so Portland. — — When I was a kid, we didn’t have fancy orange desserts, we […]

November 7, 2008 | Also posted in Composting, Friday Buffet | Comments closed

Campus Environmentalism: Sustained

Yesterday was Campus Sustainability Day. Yeah, I missed it, too. The good news is that all these schools didn’t. In honor of that day, ARAMARK put out a nice press release reviewing their work in making college food service more sustainable. Not content to simply cut food waste, ARAMARK hopes to reach the rarefied air […]

October 23, 2008 | Also posted in Trayless | Comments closed

Trayless Update

Hook ’em, Horns! The University of Texas is considering going trayless. While I’m obviously biased towards traylessness, I try to keep an open mind toward other opinions. This rationale, however, makes no sense: “I think if you have a tray, it’s a whole lot easier to see what you’re taking,” said UT student Katie Koehler. “So […]

October 3, 2008 | Also posted in General, Trayless | Comments closed

Erase the Waste

Changes are afoot at the University of Florida. In addition to becoming more sustainable in general–with a goal of producing zero waste by 2015–Gator Dining Services just launched the “Erase the Waste” campaign. The program focuses on getting students and staff to think about reducing food waste. Most schools don’t ask students to change their […]

October 2, 2008 | Also posted in Composting, Trayless | Comments closed

Scrounging for Answers

As discussed here last year, Portland’s Reed College has a unique way of avoiding food waste. The small college has a well-established tradition (dating back to the 1960s) where “scroungers” eat the leftovers of those with meal plans.  Students with board points drop off their uneaten food at the scrounge tables on their way to the dish return […]

September 18, 2008 | Posted in College | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

If you hadn’t considered the idea of trayless college cafeterias, here’s an NPR piece on it. For the most part, it illustrates why I’m such a proponent of traylessness. — — Read this waste horror story from a mom who volunteered to supervise lunch at her daughter’s school and a spirited discussion on how parents can trim lunchbox […]

September 12, 2008 | Also posted in Friday Buffet, International, School, Trayless | Comments closed

Sunday Smorgasbord

I’ve always liked college, I have a soft spot for Mississippi and I love gleaning. Put that all together and you have Mississippi State gleaning watermelon. — — I’m sad to report that the California bill that would have made food donation easier at catered events is dead for the year. The office of State […]

September 7, 2008 | Also posted in Food Recovery, Friday Buffet, Legislation, School | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Democratic National Convention organizers aimed to divert 85 percent of its waste from the landfill, including composting food. Based on this Rocky Mountain News article, it seems like they’ll have to settle for 70 percent. In my book, that’s still quite an accomplishment, as described here. So why bar volunteers from talking to the press, […]

August 29, 2008 | Also posted in Composting, Events, Friday Buffet, Trayless | Comments closed