| Overall Rating | Silver |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 52.02 |
| Liaison | Christine Bruckner |
| Submission Date | Jan. 24, 2025 |
Illinois State University
OP-8: Food Recovery
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.00 / 2.00 |
Christine
Bruckner Assistant Director Office of Sustainability |
8.1 Food recovery program
Narrative and/or website URL providing an overview of the institution’s surplus food donation program:
A student organization, the Food Recovery Network, takes surplus catering and dining food and donates to a local homeless shelter and soup kitchen, Home Sweet Home Missionaries. When operational the Food Recovery Network is used on a weekly basis to transport the food from campus to the shelter. In 2021, the ISU chapter of the Food Recovery Network was named the most productive chapter, recovering over 2,100 pounds of food and saving 4,089 kg of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.
Do the institution’s dining services divert pre-consumer food waste from disposal for processing and use as animal feed, compost, and/or biofuel?:
Narrative and/or website URL providing an overview of the institution’s pre-consumer food waste diversion program:
Food waste is collected in the prep area of both dining centers and the Bone Student Center which has retail and catering facilities. Pulpers are installed in the back of the house for any pre-consumer food waste. In the pulper, the food waste is ground up and the water is removed before it is emptied into a container. The container is picked up by the composting company Better Earth Logistics.
Do the institution’s dining services divert post-consumer food waste from disposal for processing and use as animal feed, compost, and/or biofuel?:
Narrative and/or website URL providing an overview of the institution’s post-consumer food waste diversion program:
Pulpers have been installed that are connected to the dish line in two of the three dining centers on campus. Once guests have finished their meals and returned their dishes to the dish line, leftover food and napkins are rinsed off the dishes and enter the pulper. In the pulper, the food waste is ground up and the water is removed before it is emptied into a container. The container is picked up by the composting company Better Earth Logistics.
Campus Dining also works with Mahoney Environmental company to recycle approximately 26,126 pounds annually of used fryer oil, waste cooking oil, and grease trap material, to be used to manufacture new products such as animal feed or alternative fuel, like biodiesel..
Do the institution’s dining services track and assess their food and organic materials management efforts on at least an annual basis to inform ongoing improvements?:
Narrative and/or website URL providing an overview of the institution’s food and organic materials management tracking and assessment initiatives:
Event Management, Dining, and Hospitality unit tracks the number of compost bins at each unit that are collected and sent to the composting facility as well as monitors our waste sent to the landfill. They also monitor purchases and are always trying to add local foods and products that are more sustainable.
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Optional documentation
Additional documentation for this credit:
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