Food sustainability focuses on the production, consumption, and disposal of food. This starts with the use of natural resources and ends with the recovery or final disposal of food. Diverting and reducing food waste saves organizations money, has the ability to help people, and conserves resources (EPA). Food waste produces methane in landfills contributing to greenhouse gases. Food waste can be donated, composted or used in anaerobic digestion to produce energy .
Chartwells Catering manages WPI’s Dining Services.
Dine on Campus is available to browse daily menu items for each dining location.
Food Waste Management at WPI
Currently, WPI sends its discarded food waste to Tyde Brook Farm in Holden, MA for animal feed.
The Food Recovery Network donates surplus food from dining halls around campus to local homeless shelters in the Worcester area. The Friendly House in Worcester supplies meals for 25-40 families per day.
WPI’s Green Team provides suggestions on reducing your environmental impact from the food industry by eating less meat, increasing fruit and vegetable consumption, using reusable containers and reducing food waste.
Project Clean Plate is an event by WPI’s Green Team where people in Morgan Hall POD with no food waste are given a raffle ticket with the potential to win prizes. This found that 42% of students at WPI waste food with 0.16 lbs wasted per person.
Some Projects Related to Food Sustainability
