Zero Waste: Indiana’s Folly

I followed Dani as she was taking the trash out from Bookmarket Eatery. She’s a student who works at IU Dining amidst the labor shortage. She was carrying two bags, recycling, and compost, and I was behind her with a third bag that was just trash.

“We just throw it all in the garbage,” she tells me. “That’s what they tell us to do.” She had no stake in the operations of IU Dining. After all, she was just a student worker. “Nothing gets recycled or composted. They don’t even put it in different bins, and we use the same bag for everything, so there’s no way to tell which bag is which.” That revelation was in stark contrast to IU Dining’s zero waste initiative. As I walk through the dining hall, I think about the overflow of trash from the bins. The composting bin had been completely full, stuffed to the top

with carry-out containers, evident that at least some of the students cared. The trash was full too, with the same containers that were supposed to be compostable. The recycling bin was no different, made up mostly of food waste, which meant that anything that was recyclable to begin with was definitely not anymore. I can’t help but wonder: is Indiana University keeping its zero waste promise? The reality is, Americans waste an absurd amount of food. According to a 2016 article in The Atlantic, 60 million tons of food are thrown away each year (Chandler). In other words, approximately a third of the food we buy ends up in landfills, representing almost $160 billion. To top it all off, food waste is the single biggest component of American landfills. Problematically, as food decomposes, more greenhouse gases are emitted. In other words, every time we throw our leftovers in the trash, we are contributing to the climate crisis. The Washington Post contextualizes this idea, “The carbon footprint of U.S. food waste is greater than that of the airline industry. Globally, wasted food accounts for about 8 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. The environmental consequences of producing food that no one eats are massive” (Kaplan, 2021).

The food we don’t eat has consequences, and the vast majority of the world is seemingly ignorant of that fact. 20 percent of that waste comes from food services, including college dining halls (Cardwell, Cummings, Kraft, and Berkenkamp, 2019). As one of the largest universities in the Midwest, Indiana University is one of these culprits. The same study analyzed the habits of college students, and as it turns out, each school year, each student wastes 112 pounds of food. That waste is equivalent to 93 meals a year (FeedingAmerica, 2021). As the size of the institution increases, the problem worsens. In light of these estimates, cumulatively, more than 5.5 million pounds of food are wasted at IU every year.

So how is the university we attend dealing with these issues? In 2019, a “zero waste” initiative was piloted in several of the university’s dining halls, including Woodland, Bookmarket, and Goodbody Eateries. Since then, most IU Dining has adopted these practices. According to their website, some of these initiatives include:

• Composting food and take-out material.
• Removing trays to reduce consumption of chemicals, electricity, and water.
• Opening “all-you-care-to-eat” locations that are proven to produce less food waste.

The university says that they believe “they have an ethical duty to positively impact our current community and future generations… [and] are actively [engaging] in making food available to all community members and taking measures to conserve and protect future resources” (IU Dining, 2020). Reality, unfortunately, paints a very different narrative. Despite IU Dining’s claims that they are actively engaged in protecting the environment, their sustainability efforts are poorly executed and lack any actual benefits.

To Compost or Not To Compost

As it turns out, composting is a great way to reduce food waste, as it turns organic wastes into nutrient-rich soil. Composting has a number of benefits. Notably, it is a fantastic way to recycle organic waste and divert the waste stream away from landfills. This process thus prevents organic matter from decomposing in landfills, ultimately reducing the amount of greenhouse gases being released. IU Dining has rallied behind this method as a mechanism to reduce food waste, claiming that their organic waste is taken to a local composting facility in Bloomington. That claim is unfortunately unfounded. “They don’t [compost or recycle] at Bookmarket, so I’m pretty sure they don’t do it anywhere,“They don’t [compost or recycle] at Bookmarket, so I’m pretty sure they don’t do it anywhere.”” Cody, a former IU Dining employee, tells me. Where IU is doing its alleged composting is also unclear, despite claims that the dining halls compost at local facilities. EarthKeepers, a local Bloomington compost collection service, does not mention IU Dining as a partner. The School of Public and Environmental Affairs is the only IU-affiliated entity mentioned as an EarthKeeper partner.

Eating Without Trays

Foodservice on campus dining halls has radically changed over the years. Trays, for instance, are a thing of the past. Instead, IU believes that removing trays can reduce food waste, water consumption, and fossil fuel use. Their websites allege that tray-less dining encourages people to take less food and reduces food waste by as much as 25-30% (IU Dining, 2020). Where these findings are coming from is unclear.

Unfortunately, tray-less dining does not reduce waste in any way. Researchers at the Natural Resources Defense Council identified that despite the common belief that tray-less dining would reduce edible waste, there was no difference in the amount of food waste between restaurants that offered trays and those that did not (Cardwell, Cummings, Kraft, and Berkenkamp, 2019). In other words, IU Dining’s efforts are being put in the wrong place. These findings are not designed to encourage the use of trays, but rather, question common beliefs and re-identify what actually works so that our zero waste initiatives are more intentional.  This practice is ultimately a posturing technique to signal to the public that IU Dining cares about food waste. In the meantime, food waste remains a glaring problem.

“All-you-think-you-can-eat”

IU Dining has presented the opening of new “all-you-care-to-eat” locations as a method to reduce food waste. Unfortunately, these beliefs are unfounded. All-you-care-to-eat models lead to more food waste because there are All-you-care-to-eat locations typically produce 40% more food waste than in retail settings.no disincentive to take more than one needs. Especially at the student level, we want to get the most out of our eating experience, causing us to overestimate how much food we can actually consume. As a result, all-you-care-to-eat locations typically produce 40% more food waste than in retail settings (Cardwell, Cummings, Kraft, and Berkenkamp, 2019). Just think about it. If there isn’t a cost associated with how much you take, why wouldn’t you take more?

The Solution

There are a number of ways to work towards a remedy for the food waste issue. The first thing IU Dining can do is compost. By that I mean, Indiana University should actually follow through with its claims and ensure that each and every dining hall is following the guidelines in place. After all, even if compostable carry materials and utensils are being used, it does not matter if they still end up in our landfills.

It is also time to pursue novel initiatives to reduce food waste. In order to identify the best plan forward, IU Dining has to consider why students produce so much food waste in the first place. A study from UC Berkeley identifies two crucial factors: food quality and large portion sizes (Lam, 2010). Addressing those two issues could help us form better zero waste initiatives in the future.

Food quality can be solved in a number of ways. After all, if customers do not like the food they are being served, they will not eat it. One way to combat this issue is to offer guests the opportunity to taste food options before they order something by using tasting spoons. When given the opportunity for individuals to taste the food options before they order, guests produced significantly less food waste. On average, food waste declined by 20 percent once tasting spoons were introduced (Malefors, Sundin, Tromp, and Eriksson, 2021). Adopting this practice could help IU Dining reduce the amount of food ending up in landfills.

Improving quality control is also a necessary step. IU junior Sarah tells me, “Two years ago, I would eat everything because I don’t like wasting food. Now, I sometimes just have to throw it away, because it’s just so bad.” Other students, as well as parents, have expressed similar frustrations about the quality of food at IU’s dining halls. Unless the food quality improves, food waste will continue to be a problem.

On top of that, students may be taking or served too much food. Large portion sizes in retail locations may contribute to the food waste problem. Indeed, 28 percent of the students surveyed at UC Berkeley said that large portion sizes explained why they did not finish their food (MCURC Sustainability, 2010). Moving forward, it may be helpful to give serving staff clearer instructions on portion sizes. When asked how institutions can help guests reduce food waste, the vast majority of comments were related to portion sizes (Cardwell, Cummings, Kraft, and Berkenkamp, 2019). Consequently, in foodservice locations where employees received clear instructions about portion sizes, there was less food waste per guest. Similarly, in all-you-care-to-eat locations, taking less food can help. A study conducted by researchers at San José State University identified that portion sizes were correlated with food waste in self-serve dining facilities, suggesting that taking less food could help alleviate the amount of food ending up in our landfills (Freedman and Brochado, 2012). Serving less and taking less may ultimately help us reduce food waste.

In addition, introducing new ways to deter food waste can also be an effective strategy in the dining halls. In the documentary, Wasted! The Story Of Food Waste, the film crew explored various solutions to reduce food waste (Chai and Kye, 2017). One of those solutions was in South Korea. There, the government was able to set up a revolutionary system that weighed the trash produced at a household and bill them accordingly. If Indiana University were committed to the all-you-care-to-eat dining hall model, it may be important to consider ways to implement deterrents against food waste. Adopting a waste “tax” of some kind would force students to be more conscious of the food waste they were producing.

The EPA set a goal to reduce food waste by 50 percent by 2030 approximately 6 years ago (EPA, 2021). Thus far, it appears that only marginal progress has been made towards that goal. Despite food waste being such a prominent issue in higher education institutions, prevention efforts are not as widely spread as they need to be. In fact, the majority of universities — most domestic and international — are not doing enough. In an international sample of 52 institutions, 60 percent of universities lacked a particular strategy or simply did not measure the amount of food waste produced. 15 percent of universities did not have any engagement with food waste (Filho, Salvia, Davis, Will and, Moggi, 2021). In other words, IU is not the only university with this problem.IU is not the only university with this problem. At the very least, the university acknowledges that there is indeed a food waste problem. Whether or not administrators will work harder to remedy that problem is yet to be seen.

In the meantime, we can still reduce how much we contribute to the problem. If IU Dining refuses to compost, there are other ways to do it. Community gardens around campus offer small-scale composting for individuals to redirect their food waste away from landfills. Off-campus, EarthKeepers offers compost collection and drop-off services for a small fee. Until IU makes a more concerted initiative to reduce food waste around campus, small changes to our individual food waste production can help reduce the problem. Importantly, remember to demand better from our university.

REFERENCES

Chai, A. and Kye, N. (2017). Wasted! The Story of Food Waste. United States.

Chandler, A. (2016). Why Americans lead the world in Food Waste. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/07/american-food-waste/491513/.

Freedman, M. R., & Brochado, C. (2010). Reducing portion size reduces food intake and plate waste. Obesity, 18(9), 1864–1866. https://doi.org/10.1038/oby.2009.480

Green Umbrella Waste Reduction Action Team and the Greater Cincinnati Food Policy Council (2017). School Cafeteria Share Tables: A guide to reduce food waste at schools in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. https://www.greenumbrella.org/resources/GU%20Action%20Teams/Waste%20Reduction%20Action%20Team/OKI%20Share%20Tables%20Guide.pdf

IU Dining (2021). Social Responsibility. https://www.dining.indiana.edu/gogreen/index.html

Kaplan, S. (2021). A third of all food in the U.S. gets wasted. fixing that could help fight climate change. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2021/02/25/climate-curious-food-waste/.

Lam, Y. (2010). Why Do UC Berkeley Students Waste Food at Dining Halls?. Rausser College of Natural Resources. https://nature.berkeley.edu/classes/es196/projects/2010final/LamY_2010.pdf.

Leal Filho, W., Lange Salvia, A., Davis, B., Will, M., & Moggi, S. (2021). Higher education and food waste: assessing current trends. International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology, 28(5), 440–450. doi:10.1080/13504509.2020.1865474

Malefors, C., Sundin, N., Tromp, M., & Eriksson, M. (2022). Testing interventions to reduce food waste in school catering. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 177(105997). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2021.105997

MCURC Sustainability (2010). Food Waste Research in College and University Settings: An Overview. https://www.ciaprochef.com/MCURCFoodWasteResearch_Overview/.

United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2021). United States 2030 Food Loss and Waste Reduction Goal. https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/united-states-2030-food-loss-and-waste-reduction-goal