UCF Dining Services’ Green Team has seen a steady reduce in food waste on campus.
“Food waste has become our main focus,” Sustainability Coordinator Eden Wetherell said.
Since the start of the Green Team in 2010, the group’s goal is to weave the “green thread” into every aspect of the campus. Made up of twelve members, including Wetherell, the group regulates the portion sizes and the food preparation to reduce the amount of food waste.
The team members also look at the location’s sales and base those numbers on the amount of supplies and food that particular location needs.
According to ARAMARK, the corporation UCF Dining Services works with, every American generates about 4.43 pounds of waste every day and 14 percent of waste is food scraps.” Also, about 80 percent of fryer oil remains after cooking.
Also, ARAMARK has pushed trayless dining into universities, including UCF Dining locations. This means that food is no longer served on the trays, which reduces the amount of food a customer may get and end up throwing away later. By using trayless dining, food waste is reduced by 25-30 percent per person.
Environmental Engineering Associate Professor Dr. Andrew Randall said a lot of food waste may end up taking space in a landfill, and the space in that landfill is becoming smaller.
Food waste could also end up contaminating the water. UCF Dining Services are not associated with all the dining locations on campus. Their locations include the Marketplace, Java City, Seattle’s Best Coffee, Burger King Whopper Bar,
Einstein Bros. Bagels, Knightro’s, Catering, Knightstop Convenience Store, Chick-fil-a, and the Main Office.
Green Team member Emmanuel Cruz, a barista at Java City, has incorporated what the Green Team has taught him into the shop. The leftover coffee beans are composted and used in the arboretum near the Physical Science building. Java City also tracks their amount of food waste.
“Last semester we actually started logging how much food waste we had,” Cruz said. “Once we started logging it, then we realized how much we were wasting.”
It is mandatory for all locations to log their food waste amount. It is also logged by the amount of pounds. Wetherell said within the past two years since the Green Team was formed, there has been a steady decrease in food waste.
Sally Eubanks, a cashier from Burger King in the Student Union and Green Team member, also applies aspects from the Green Team to her job location.
This location makes sure all the food is not overcooked. Also, 100 percent of the oil used is recycled and used as biofuel. The most important of all was using fair trade food.
“We make sure we’re not working with companies that underpay its employees, that use harmful chemicals for the environment, or exploit people within the community,” Eubanks said.
The Green Team meets every other week to discuss different aspects of going green, including alternative fuels for transportation, water and energy, food waste, and recycling. During the last ten minutes, the group “green storms” to create new initiatives and apply them to their dining locations.
The team’s first priority was recycling. Now that many recycling bins the Green Team are responsible for can be found across campus, and students are encouraged to participate, the Green Team has decided to focus on food waste. Wetherell said she wants to incorporate composting much more in the upcoming year.
Wetherell was only a Communications student working at Einstein Bros. Bagels two years ago. Ever since she promoted her idea to switch from Styrofoam to cardboard takeout containers, UCF Dining Services noticed her enthusiasm and offered her the sustainability position. Wetherell is excited to continue to expand sustainability at UCF. The future depends on it.
“We can’t just think about now, we have to think about future generations and us as a whole as people,” Wetherell said.
Emmanuel Cruz’s pursuit to be green is also driven by future generations.
“I’m not trying to save the world; I’m trying save the environment for the people in the future so when they walk out they will be able to breathe. They won’t have to wear masks and stuff like that just because we didn’t take care of our environment,” Cruz said. “And that’s a very important part for me, making sure that other people can actually enjoy earth as we do today.”
ARAMARK is going to establish brand new programs including food waste fundamentals and a food donation program. More information on these programs will be released in the near future.
