Food waste is a significant problem facing our society. Forty percent of food in the United States goes uneaten. At UConn Dining, minimizing food waste and diverting it from landfills are high priorities. The following is just a sampling of what Dining is doing to address the issue.

• UConn partners with Quantum Organics to ensure that any food that must be disposed of is put to good use. Quantum Organics uses an anaerobic digester to transform pre- and post-consumer food waste into biogas that powers Connecticut communities and turns waste into compost.
• Good food should never go to waste, and people should never go hungry. That’s why UConn Dining partners with Community Outreach and the Food Recovery Network to deliver unused food from our cafes to the Covenant Soup Kitchen in Willimantic. Want to get involved? Contact the SOS Food Recovery group here.
• Sometimes our eyes are bigger than our stomachs; we get it. Trayless dining curbs the urge to overload your plate, allowing you to choose your meals more carefully (which limits food waste). Additionally, not having to wash all those trays saves water. Currently, students at UConn waste approximately 2.2 ounces of food per meal. We hope that with continued education on mindful dining, this number will decrease.
• We recycle our cooking oil through Mahoney Environmental Services to produce biodiesel.
• UConn Dining staff works closely with food suppliers to minimize excess packaging and purchase from local growers, reducing our carbon footprint. Dining Services is the largest consumer of locally grown produce in Connecticut.
• Our chefs have developed recipes that enable us to use food that might otherwise be wasted.

UConn Dining is committed to serving students. If you have ideas, feedback, or want to get involved in supporting our initiatives, reach out! We’d love to hear from you:
www.dining.uconn.edu/questions-and-comments