'Waste Less, Do More' Campaign Raises Awareness

The "Waste Less, Do More" campaign that took place from Nov. 13 through Nov. 15 succeeded in the awareness evaluation. Students who heard of the Waste Less, Do More campaign were able to remember where they saw a flyer or napkin dispenser card. The Waste Less, Do More Facebook page received more than 75 "likes" in less than a week and was even noticed by the community. The Waste Less, Do More goal of reducing food waste by three garbage bags over three days, however, was not met.

In order to correctly measure if a food waste reduction campaign would succeed in the University cafeteria, the campaign would have to run for a longer period of time.

“Three days is not enough to measure an effective food waste reduction campaign in a cafeteria with over 4,000 students,” said Cristina Lanzieri, one of the group members of the Waste Less, Do More's senior seminar project.

Even though the goal was not met, key findings within the cafeteria’s food reduction process came to the project group’s attention such as; beverages still constitute one of the biggest waste items in the University’s hall; napkins remain a huge portion of waste in the cafeteria because Aramark noted that students take heaps of napkins instead of one or two; food waste varies by menu options; and when fresh fruit is served, there is a considerable amount of waste.

“We hope that students become more aware of our key findings and take action to reduce food waste on their own overall,” said Patrick Cassidy, another member of the senior seminar project.