conservation efforts

A Stanford student poses in front of an informational sign at Vision eARTh.

Wondering why Stern & Wilbur Dining Halls have gone trayless?

Q&A about your tray

By Matt Rothe, Sustainable Food Program Manager, Stanford Dining

Q: What’s the point of going trayless?
A: Nearly 30% of the food produced for human consumption in the U.S. ends up in the landfill, where it decomposes and produces methane—a greenhouse gas with 23 times the global warming potential of CO2. This amount of food waste works out to about a pound of food every day for every American. The Department of Agriculture estimated that recovering just five percent of the food that is wasted could feed four million people a day; recovering 25 percent would feed 20 million people. Trayless dining is one way to help curb food waste and its negative impacts by encouraging diners to take only what they can eat. With fewer trays, we also use even less water and energy and it helps to reduce costs.

Q: Whose idea is this? Were students involved in the decision?
A: Trayless dining is a pilot program in all the dining halls and is part of our Love Food, Hate Waste campaign. Last spring, in partnership with the ASSU, we solicited feedback from approximately 500 Stanford students to gauge interest in a trayless dining program. A majority of students favored going trayless, although based on feedback from the survey we do keep a limited number of trays for student athletes and students with disabilities.

Q: Who else is going trayless?
A: A number of other universities across the country have implemented trayless dining as an important part of their sustainability programs.

Q: That’s great, but can I still have a tray if I need one?
A: Absolutely, but please help us reduce our carbon footprint by taking a tray only if you need one. And please let us know your thoughts about trayless dining at Stanford.

Q: How can I help?
A: Take as much food as you want, but please only take what you can eat. Please also remember to bring cups, plates, silverware and bowls back to the dining hall for cleaning so they don’t inadvertently end up in the landfill. Did you know?

• Twenty-seven percent of the food produced for human consumption in the U.S. is thrown out as waste.
• The amount of usable food in landfills costs Americans $50 million each year.
• Food waste decays in landfills and produces methane, a greenhouse gas that is 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.

Love Food Hate Waste Campaign

Stanford Dining launched a comprehensive educational and operational campaign in the 2008-09 academic year to reduce food waste from our dining halls. We placed students and employees in front of tray returns to raise awareness about food waste and scrape food waste into bins before the students eyes. Students who had clean plates received a “Love food, Hate waste” pin.

Information about the cycle of food waste and Stanford Dining’s efforts to reduce its impact were provided on signs next to the tray returns. In addition, we offered smaller plates and trays and smaller portion sizes to encourage students to only take what they can eat and come back for more if they want.

Given the positive results of our “Love Food, Hate Waste” program, we will be rolling out two new initiatives in the 2009-10 academic year with the goal of further reducing our food waste. Based on the results from a broad student survey, we will be implementing a trayless dining program in two of our dining halls to encourage students to reduce wasted food and to eliminate the water and energy required to wash the trays. Additionally, we plan to pilot a food waste tracking system in three dining halls to help us reduce our pre-consumer food waste.
 

More Information  

For more information on the impact of food waste, see the following websites:
 

• Information, facts and resources about food waste: http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com
• City food waste prevention information:  http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/WPIE/Food/
• Food composting programs: www.recyclenow.org

Stanford students Dayoung Lee and John Mulrow "Food Biocompostable Inspectors" educate and assist customers with composting bins.

Composting

Composting food scraps keep them out of landfills where they produce the greenhouse gas, methane, and creates a new product which can replace petroleum-based fertilizers used to grow food. All Stanford Dining halls collect food waste from food preparation and from students leftovers, and send it to an off-site composting facility. The food scraps are composted and then returned to campus for use at the gardens, farm and landscaping. In 2007, Stanford composted just over 1.2 million tons of food waste from dining halls and other campus eateries.

Recycling

Stanford Dining recycles paper, corrugated cardboard, plastic bag, aluminum cans, glass bottles and jars, tins cans, and aseptic containers from all of our dining facilities. Our staff are trained internally and through our on-campus recycling program, PSSI, to divert as much as possible from the landfill.

Food Donations

Stanford Dining gives leftover usable food to the student-run program SPOON (Stanford Project on Hunger) to distribute to the Palo Alto Opportunity Center. In the summer of 2008, Stanford Dining’s Partnership with SPOON helped them surpass their goal of donating 2,000 pounds of food to the Opportunity Center.

Waste Oil to Biodiesel

Waste oil from the dining halls — roughly 10,000 gallons a year — is converted to biodiesel fuel by the local non-profit Bay Area Biofuel. We also provide waste oil to student engineering groups who convert it to biofuel for educational workshops.

Energy Conservation

In Spring 2008, Stanford Dining worked with students from the Green Campus Program to implement the Dining in the Daylight program in all dining halls. Students and dining hall managers assessed the lighting needs of each eating area while attempting to optimize the use of daylight during daytime hours.

By following the recommendations of the Green Campus students to keep all lights in eating areas off until 6:30 pm daily (weather permitting), we reduced consumption by 20,735 kWh and saved at least $2,100.

In the latest dining hall renovation at Ricker in summer 2007, Stanford Dining utilized green building features, such as skylights for daylighting, recycled glass countertops and recycled-content furniture and carpeting.

Water Conservation

We are committed to reducing water usage in our facilities. Some examples of our initiatives include: switching to low water use dishwashers which have cut water usage by 50 percent at these locations; installing low flow valves in all spray heads in our dining halls; and, using grey water in our pulpers to recapture waste water and reduce the reliance on domestic water.

We are working towards eliminating bottled water. In order to encourage students to use reusable water bottles and coffee cups, Stanford Dining provided reusable thermoses in 2007-08 and reusable water bottles in 2008-09 to all meal plan students. Students can use these containers to bring drinks to classes and receive discounts at on-campus cafes. We provide bulk “spa water” (tap water flavored with cut produce) instead of bottled water in all dining facilities and at catered events. We have eliminated bottled water in our central dining office (single-use bottles and Arrowhead bulk containers) and plan to extend this to all dining hall units.

Last modified Tue, 27 Sep, 2011 at 15:10