Food Recovery Programs (STARS)
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This post is related to STARS, AASHE's Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System.
This post is related to the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment (ACUPCC).
Hello everybody,
With the support of our Office of Sustainability and Dining Services, we (undergrad students) have started a food recovery program at the University of Maryland called the Food Recovery Network that picks up extra food from the campus dining halls, sports games and other venues. It has quickly grown to donating over 60 volunteers and 1,400 meals every week that would've been wasted.
Beyond providing thousands of meals to hungry men, women and children in our community, food recovery projects also help the environment by helping to close the loop on food waste, which is the single largest component of Municipal Solid Waste in America. Rotting food is a huge emitter of methane, which the EPA estimates to be 21 times more harmful towards global climate change than carbon dioxide. And out of the 68 billion pounds of food waste the US generates each year, only 2 billion pounds is recycled or recovered.
Good faith food donors are cleared from all liability and this project has saved UMD's Dining Services money, as being more conscious has resulted in decreased waste. The only expense of this program is the aluminum trays; for every $1.50 invested, 15 meals are recovered and donated. After the success of the Food Recovery Network at UMD, volunteers were asking, "How is this not at every campus?" In response, the founders at UMD have incorporated Food Recovery Network as a non-profit with the mission of exporting this great program to other colleges and universities across America, and recently started FRN at Brown, which donated 1,000 pounds of food in it's first two weeks.
We invite you to join the movement by starting a Food Recovery Network on your campus. Don't know where to start? The students from FRN at UMD can dish out advice to help you start a chapter. Whether you are a sustainability professional or a student, we would love to hear from you! Email us at frn.umd@gmail.com and check us out at http://www.foodrecoverynetwork.org/!
I've been told by our dining services that we can't donate food due to state health codes. Did you run into this issue? I'm in New York so maybe the codes are different.
Local relief organizations are desperate, and many campus dining operations throw out hundreds of pounds of edible food every day.State health codes are all different, but most provide exemptions for donations of food to the needy.
Federal law provides the 'Good Samaritan Food Sharing Act' that very clearly eliminates liability on food donated to the needy except in cases of 'gross negligence', so there is no reason for the dining service not to do this directly. Dining services that refuse to donate surplus food must not be aware of the law -- or they have some other reason for not wanting to do this [maybe an overzealous & uninformed legal department]. Call them on it!
Peter Crownfield
Campus Sustainability Initiative
Alliance for Sustainable Communities-Lehigh Valley
Bethlehem, PA 18015
www.sustainlv.org
Mary Ellen,
Joe,
Hi! I'm Ben Chesler. I'm the Director of Expansion for the Food Recovery Network. Saw your comment on our post about food recovery. We have run into the health code issue before, but it shouldn't be a reason for dining services not to donate food. The "Good Samaritan Food Donation Act" which is a law in all 50 states, allows (and even encourages) food donation of leftover food unless there is "gross negligence". Our organization is dedicated to supporting college students starting food recovery programs on their campuses, and we would love to help you work with your Dining Services department to talk about the code issue and get a food recovery program started.
You want to send me an email at benjamin_chesler@brown.edu and we can set up a time to talk on the phone?
Looking forward to it.
Cheers
Ben
P.S. Out of curiosity, which school do you go to?
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By the way, I forgot to mention that our Dining Services is a huge supporter. We have a letter from our Director of Dining Services addressed to the Dining Directors at other colleges and universities outlining the program and the benefits they've seen from it and she is available to answer follow-up questions, too.