Skidmore College
OP-8: Food Recovery
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
Reporter |
Tarah
Rowse Director of Sustainability Sustainability Office |
8.1 Food recovery program
Narrative and/or website URL providing an overview of the institution’s surplus food donation program:
The FeedMore student club partners with the Dining Hall to collect surplus food from Dining Services to donate to local organizations, helping to address food insecurity in Saratoga Springs. The Dining Services team collects, stores, and labels food for donation, while the FeedMore student volunteers weigh, track and and deliver the food to the local food pantry. Deliveries occur twice a week during the academic semester, with reduced deliveries during the summer. On average, the program donates over 6,000 lbs of food each year.
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:
All food scraps (pre-consumer, post-consumer, and most events) are collected, hauled away, and industrially composted. In fiscal year 2024, we diverted approximately 16,000 lbs/month of food scraps. Food service workers are trained in the composting program in order to reduce waste and ensure proper disposal of food trimmings and other food waste in to the food scrap buckets (at each prep station) and large compost toters.
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:
Dining Services has post-consumer food scraps collection (including napkins) in the main dining hall and cafe on campus. The student-run Skidmore Compost program manages a collection program for all apartments, all residence halls, and centralized locations in most academic and administrative spaces. Food scraps from the apartments goes to Skidmor'es on-campus backyard style bin composting system, while all other food scraps collected on campus are hauled away and industrially composted.
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:
Skidmore has tracked our food scrap collection programs since their commencement (2011 for our apartment composting program and 2018 for our dining hall system). Detailed tracking provides monthly data (more granular for the apartment program) of weights, locations, costs, etc. FeedMore food donations are also tracked. In addition to utilzing this data for assessment and program review, Skidmore also reports on this data to the NYSDEC as a Designated Food Scraps Generator, in compliance with the NY Food Donation and Food Scraps Recyling Law. Annual waste audits are also conducted to look at diversion and material sorting (landfill, recycling, and food scraps) and identify opportunities for improvement.
The Reporting Tool will automatically calculate the following figure:
Optional documentation
Additional documentation for this credit:
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.