You Can Be a Food Waste Reducer!
Food waste is a significant environmental and economic issue. Here on campus, students waste as much as 15,000 pounds of food at the CSULB dining halls each month! That’s the same weight as a T-Rex!
The average American household throws away about 219 pounds of food annually, making food waste the number one material in America’s landfills.
Read on to learn about the negative impacts of food waste, what is being done to address the issue at The Beach and beyond, and what YOU can do to reduce food waste, whether you live on-campus or off.
Take only one plate at a time - It can be tempting to load up on every item that looks appealing, but it isn’t necessary! If you are still hungry after the first plate, you can always go back for more.
Plan your meals - To avoid impulsive decisions that lead to waste, think about what you want to eat by checking out the menu before visiting the dining hall.
Wait a few minutes in between plates – Studies show that it takes about 20 minutes for your brain to send the signal to your stomach that makes you feel full. If you wait a little while after your first serving, you will be better able to gauge your true level of hunger.
Ask for a sample – If you’re not sure you will like a dish that is being served, ask the Dining Hall staff if you can try a small taste first before taking a whole plate.
Request a dish without certain items – Most dishes are assembled just before they are put on the serving line but can be modified by request. Ask the serving staff to see what can be modified. You can request changes like a dish with no sauce or substituting one starch for another.
- Meal plan – Plan all your meals for the week so you will know exactly what ingredients to buy.
- Create a shopping list - Note down the quantities/portions needed and only buy what is on your list.
- Learn the difference between 'Best by’ dates and expiration dates - Food is often tossed because people assume that food is not safe to eat after the “best by” date. This leads to a lot of unnecessary food waste. To avoid confusion, use sites like Eat by Date to better understand when food expires and is still safe to consume.
- Freeze food – Use your freezer to preserve food when you have more than you can consume in the short term. Check guides like these for the best ways to preserve food through freezing.
- Share with others - Having extra food is a good excuse to invite friends over for a meal or offer to deliver food to a sick relative.
- Donate surplus food - Take extra food to rescue organizations to reduce waste. Also consider donating food to the ASI Laurén Chalmers '83 Beach Pantry to support your fellow Beach students, information on donations can be found on their website.
- Compost scraps – When all else fails, make sure to dispose of food scraps, spoiled food, and leftovers in your organics (green) bin so they can be composted.
Wasting food has negative environmental, economic, and social impacts in our local and global communities.
Climate Impact
Most food waste ends up in landfills where it is tightly packed and deprived of the oxygen it needs to decompose naturally. Instead, the food breaks down anaerobically, leading to methane production. Methane isa greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than CO2, which traps heat in the atmosphere. As a result, methane emissions from landfills play a significant role in global warming. By reducing food waste and composting food scraps, we can decrease methane production and help mitigate climate change. Additionally, composting instead of landfilling food waste can recycle valuable nutrients back into the soil, promoting a healthier and more sustainable environment.
Resource Depletion
Producing food requires a lot of resources including water, fuel, energy, and labor. Therefore, when we throw away a sandwich, for example, we are not only wasting that sandwich, but also the resources it took to grow and transport all the ingredients that make up the sandwich. When food is wasted, we are also wasting the resources it took to grow, harvest, transport, and package those goods. This contributes to environmental harm in all the stages of the food supply chain and ignores the fact that we live on a finite planet with limited resources.
Economic & Social Impact
The average American family throws away about $1,600 worth of food annually. Nationally, between $160 billion and $218 billion in edible food is wasted each year, all while food prices are increasing and more than 13% of Americans face some level of food insecurity.
Food insecurity is also a pressing issue across college campuses. A recent study revealed that 41.6% of CSU students reported experiencing food insecurity; 20% experience low food security, and 21.6% report very low food security. While individual food waste reduction efforts do not directly improve food security challenges, it is a reminder of how precious food and other resources are and the need to adopt a conservation mindset.
Beach Shops
The Beach Shops, which operate the residential dining halls, has been committed to sustainability and food waste reduction for more than a decade. In 2021, Beach Shops partnered with the ASI Laurén Chalmers '83 Beach Pantry on food recovery efforts, and in 2022, they joined forces with CalRecycle to minimize organic waste.
Other food waste reduction and organic waste diversion efforts include:
- Trayless Dining - All three residential dining halls have adopted trayless dining, which has reduced solid food waste and water consumption by over 30%. This initiative has also led to a decrease in the use of chemicals and energy.
- Batch Cooking - Residential dining utilizes batch cooking techniques to prevent overproduction, preparing meals in smaller, frequent batches based on demand to keep food fresh and reduce waste.
- Menu Planning - Menus are designed to use ingredients that are versatile to minimize excess inventory.
- Inventory Management - Residential Dining staff use first-in, first-out (FIFO) practices to reduce spoilage.
- Portion Control - Smaller portion sizes are offered to reduce uneaten food while maintaining an all-you-care-to-eat service.
- Student Engagement - Residential Dining monitors student waste and implemented initiatives to raise awareness and reduce post-consumer waste.
- Reducing Organic Waste - The dining team reduces organic waste through innovative practices, including trimming waste during food preparation, repurposing food items, and adhering to strict health and safety standards.
- Responsible Waste Sorting - In collaboration with the Office of Sustainability, Residential Dining introduced clearly labeled bins for organic waste, making it easy for everyone to sort waste properly.
- Waste Assessments: Following a comprehensive assessment by Tetra Tech and CalRecycle in 2022, Residential Dining strives to maintain less than 1% edible food waste in our organic waste bins.
Beach Bites
Another way that our campus community is helping to ensure that surplus food does not go to waste here at the Beach is by utilizing Beach Bites, a handy feature in the CSULB Mobile App that sends out real-time notifications to students about available food from on-campus catered events and meetings.
Check out the Beach Bites Tutorial.
In 2016, California established methane emissions reduction targets through Senate Bill (SB) 1383, which is part of a statewide initiative to reduce short-lived climate pollutants. The goals include:
- Reducing organic waste disposal by 75% by 2025
- Rescuing at least 20% of currently disposed surplus food for human consumption by 2025
SB 1383, which is overseen by the state agency CalRecycle, mandates that certain food businesses donate the maximum amount of edible food they would otherwise discard to food recovery organizations.
As of 2024, CalRecycle has allocated $52.4 million to over 100 projects focused on edible food recovery and food waste prevention. These efforts have diverted nearly 154 million pounds of edible food from landfills, equivalent to more than 128 million meals.
