Southside Weighs its Waste

Photo by Laura Foltz.
Students throw away excess food which is weighed at Southside.

By Student Media Copy Editor Jacqueline Schafer

Denise Ammaccapane, Dining Services Resident District Manager, and others at Southside demonstrated just how much students throw out with the “Weigh the Waste” event for Earth Day last Wednesday.

At Southside, there is a significant problem with students taking more food than they can eat and then throwing away whole hamburgers, sandwiches or desserts. In fact, according to Sodexo, 96 billion pounds of food are thrown out by Americans each year.

As students made their way to the tray drop-off, they were asked to scrape any remaining food into a bin to be weighed. The food that went included entire salads, hamburgers and quesadillas. When asked about their leftover food, most students said they were full or they did not want that part of the meal. Students who had completely cleared their plates were given a wooden coin worth $1 of Mason Money at any campus dining facility.

According to Unit Manager Mark Arnold, over the course of the day, Southside served about 2,200 people and they weighed 450.5 pounds of waste. This comes out to about 1/3 of a pound per person. However, Arnold said, “Most people ate all or nearly all of their food. I think the goal to raise awareness . . . has been effectively communicated through the various campaigns over the last two weeks.”

“I see students throw out three or four bowls of food all of the time” said sophomore applied computer science major James Stocking, who eats lunch at Southside every day. “I could walk by [Weigh the Waste] every day with my head held high.”

According to Arnold, there are still students who are just not concerned. “There were some who were indifferent to the food that they did not eat and felt that if they paid for it, they can do what they want with the food,” said Arnold.

Ammaccapane was concerned because this, along with those who take food away with them, will drive up the cost of keeping Southside stocked and, in turn, drive up the cost for students. “Take as much as you want,” said Ammaccapane. “Just eat what you take.”

Sodexo has been implementing other plans nationally to help reduce waste, such as eliminating trays. According to Sodexo, eliminating trays alone reduces waste as much as 30 percent.

“Dining Services also learned some valuable information regarding reasons behind some of the waste,” said Arnold, citing examples of students who said they did not finish their food because they were given too much. After noticing that a lot of students threw out the bun of their burger or sandwich, Arnold said they will now inform guests that they can request a burger or chicken sandwich without the bun if they desire. Dining Services plans to more actively take that, as well as more student input, into consideration.