Committee investigates LU food waste
Patrick Blesi
Issue date: 10/24/07 Section: News
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USGA's Food Waste Committee gathered on Oct. 17 to address the problem of food waste on campus. USGA Senator sophomore Xavier Chen started the committee in 2006 after becoming aware of Loyola's wasteful food habits.
The FWC's first meeting focused on finding out how much plate waste Loyola dining halls generate. Plate waste, according to J. Marshall Eames, Ph.D., a professor of environmental studies at Loyola, is "food placed on people's plates that is not able to be reused because of health code violations."
Composting is not a viable means for disposing of these wastes, either. "Fats, oils, proteins and meats can be composted, but they produce issues in terms of rodents and insects," Eames said. "That material is not able to be composted here because of city ordinances. The best thing to do is to just not generate [plate waste.]"
Studies have been conducted in years past by students in Eames's classes to estimate how much plate waste is actually being produced on average. According to these studies, nearly 1,100 pounds of food are wasted each day.
The studies last year found that two-thirds of students surveyed believe food waste is a problem on campus, and 92 percent of these students believe Loyola should do something about it.
Freshman Robert Waz feels that "food waste is a problem because people tend to take an abundance of food and only eat parts of it after realizing how bad it is. If they made fresh food, people would be more inclined to take a certain amount. I will admit to wasting food, a lot of it."
Freshman Michael Wojciechowski believes that "people take too much food because it is buffet style and then end up throwing it out. There is no other option besides buffet style. In the Rambler Room people pay for the food they are going to eat."
The Food Waste Committee is working with a consortium of other organizations to address this issue including: Food Not Bombs, the Hunger Week 2007 Team, members of Eames' classes and the auditors for the University Sustainability Initiative. They have been calculating how much compostable, non-compostable and non-food waste the campus is creating each day.
The FWC's first meeting focused on finding out how much plate waste Loyola dining halls generate. Plate waste, according to J. Marshall Eames, Ph.D., a professor of environmental studies at Loyola, is "food placed on people's plates that is not able to be reused because of health code violations."
Composting is not a viable means for disposing of these wastes, either. "Fats, oils, proteins and meats can be composted, but they produce issues in terms of rodents and insects," Eames said. "That material is not able to be composted here because of city ordinances. The best thing to do is to just not generate [plate waste.]"
Studies have been conducted in years past by students in Eames's classes to estimate how much plate waste is actually being produced on average. According to these studies, nearly 1,100 pounds of food are wasted each day.
The studies last year found that two-thirds of students surveyed believe food waste is a problem on campus, and 92 percent of these students believe Loyola should do something about it.
Freshman Robert Waz feels that "food waste is a problem because people tend to take an abundance of food and only eat parts of it after realizing how bad it is. If they made fresh food, people would be more inclined to take a certain amount. I will admit to wasting food, a lot of it."
Freshman Michael Wojciechowski believes that "people take too much food because it is buffet style and then end up throwing it out. There is no other option besides buffet style. In the Rambler Room people pay for the food they are going to eat."
The Food Waste Committee is working with a consortium of other organizations to address this issue including: Food Not Bombs, the Hunger Week 2007 Team, members of Eames' classes and the auditors for the University Sustainability Initiative. They have been calculating how much compostable, non-compostable and non-food waste the campus is creating each day.