Category Archives: College

Friday Buffet

While we’re all fired up about Seattle, let’s not forget how progressive San Francisco’s composting program is. — — I’m not quite sure what to think when a conscious food squanderer writes about changing her ways. I’m still trying to remain calm after struggling through the first part of her column. — — There’s a new […]

April 3, 2009 | Also posted in Composting, Friday Buffet, Household, International | Comments closed

Trays Abolished!

Huzzah! Before lighting out for Europe, President Obama issued an executive order banning the use of cafeteria trays in federally-funded all-you-can-eat facilities. All colleges and universities that accept government money will have until August to cease using trays or risk losing their funding and, possibly, accreditation. Sorry to say it, but…April Fool’s!! Oh well. Maybe […]

April 1, 2009 | Also posted in General, Trayless | Comments closed

Exchanging Food Online, soon?

The Dell Social Innovation Competition is on right now. The $50,000 competition calls on college students worldwide to come up with ideas to change our planet. A humble goal, but a noble one. Anyway, one of the entries proposes to link food donors with food banks and soup kitchens via the Web. This joint venture […]

March 31, 2009 | Also posted in Food Recovery, Hunger, Technology | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Things are looking grim for a potential California bill that would allow catering customers to demand that their excess food be donated. After having her bill rebuffed last year, State Sen. Jenny Oropeza has decided to take a slow steady approach this year. It seems like a victory for the loose coalition of intertia, fear […]

March 27, 2009 | Also posted in Food Recovery, Friday Buffet, Legislation, Supermarket, Trayless, Tree Gleaning | Comments closed

Trayless Tuesday

Yesterday, I trekked up to Maine to see the traylessness facilitated by Bon Appetit at Saint Joseph’s College. As anyone who’s read this blog before would guess, I was enthralled by the approach to food there. One of the subtleties I hadn’t considered was the way students approach their meals. From what I saw and […]

March 25, 2009 | Also posted in Trayless | Comments closed

Trayless Travels

Today I’m making a pilgrimage, of sorts. No, not to Mecca, but to Maine. I’m visiting Saint Joseph’s College home of the trayless dining movement. There, I’ll speak with Stuart Leckie, the general manager of dining, who had the simple idea of removing trays to curb food waste. What began at this tiny Standish, Maine, […]

March 24, 2009 | Also posted in Trayless | Comments closed

Department of Split Hairs

Let’s say you’re a food service provider like Sodexo (bear with me). In the name of sustainability, you remove trays from a university dining hall. Then you save about $25K through avoided food waste and water/energy use. Should you: a.) Apply those savings to next year’s meal plan fees? b.) Donate the savings to a […]

March 17, 2009 | Also posted in Environment, Trayless | Comments closed

Recyclemania Reduction Rant

It’s mid-March, which means it’s time for the ultimate collegiate competition. No, not the NCAA Tournament, RecycleMania! That also means it’s time for my annual RecycleMania rant! The college recycling competition, which began 2001 under the auspices of the National Recycling Coalition, is generally a very positive undertaking. But, the “targeted materials” category of “food service […]

March 16, 2009 | Also posted in Composting, General | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Seven-Eleven stores in Japan are not allowed to discount food near expiration dates/times–essentially mandated to waste food. — — At U.S. bases in Iraq, food waste in Iraq is tossed and burned along with everything else. We can do better, says Army infantry captain Timothy Hsia in a Times op-ed. — — In addition to […]

March 6, 2009 | Also posted in Events, Food Recovery, Hunger, Institutional, School | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

The Ohio EPA is teaming up with grocers to try to get them to compost their food waste. As much as 70 percent of some stores’ trash is food waste! — — Meanwhile, students at Santa Clara found that 42 percent of their trash was food waste. And 70 percent could have been recycled in […]

February 27, 2009 | Also posted in Composting, School, Supermarket, Waste Stream | Comments closed