SEMO's waste watchers

Project seeks to clean up eating habits

By Mark Bliss ~ Southeast Missourian

There's no shortage of wasted food at Towers cafeteria where Southeast Missouri State University students routinely leave everything from half-eaten french fries and burgers to mounds of spaghetti on their trays.

Chartwells, the company that operates the dining service at the Cape Girardeau university, hopes to clean up students' eating habits and eventually reduce food waste by 40 percent through Project Clean Plate.

Started three years ago at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, Chartwells has expanded the project to dining centers at least 200 campuses nationwide.

Since Feb. 21, Chartwells' employees at Southeast have been weighing left-on-the-plate food at lunch and dinner every Thursday. From that, the company estimates the weekly food waste.

1,418 pounds a week

Students left more than 218 pounds of food on their plates at lunch and dinner in the initial weighing or an average of 2.88 ounces. The discarded food calculated out to over 1,418 pounds over the course of the week, Chartwells officials said. The company figures a week at 6.5 days because of weekend brunch.

More than 1,200 lunch and dinner meals typically are served on Thursdays when the food waste is checked.

Food waste dropped an estimated 345 pounds last week, a 22 percent reduction from the first week's benchmark figure, Chartwells officials said. Students left less than a pound of wasted food on average during the first week of March.

Chartwells saw an estimated 140-pound reduction in food waste last week, an 11 percent reduction from the first week. Food waste totaled an estimated 1,111 pounds for the week or 1.05 pounds of food per student served.

This week's calculations were based on Thursday's lunch and dinner waste which totaled 171 pounds.

Early success

Tim Weatherly, who heads up Chartwells' operation at Southeast, said he was surprised by the project's early success.

"Our goal is to have students take what they like, eat as much as they like, but not waste it," he said.

Students pay for their meals in board charges. In the food court, students help themselves to the food. It can be tempting for a student to take more than he or she can eat.

"You're eyes are always bigger than your stomach," said John Lindl, director of resident dining, as he scraped left-over food off plates on Thursday.

Students who eat everything on their plates are eligible for a drawing for prizes ranging from movie tickets to a portable CD player and a color printer. The bigger the percentage drop in food waste, the more prizes will be awarded each month, Chartwells officials said.

As part of the project, Chartwells also donates food to charity based on how many pounds that food waste is reduced weekly. The company earlier this week donated 50 pounds of canned goods and other food items to the Salvation Army.

Jesse Forys, a 20-year-old sophomore living in Towers, didn't have any trouble cleaning her plate on Thursday. She ate a plate of meatless spaghetti, a wheat roll and a pastry. Forys, who is from Nashville, Ill., said her parents taught her to eat all her food.

"I had to sit at the table until I finished my food," she recalled.

Forys likes Project Clean Plate. "I think it is a great idea," she said.

Students are wasteful when they don't like the food, Forys said. "If they don't like it, they'll leave a big pile on their plate."

Suzie Delaney, a freshman from Carlinville, Ill., didn't waste any food either. "I have a big appetite," she said after returning her tray and signing up for the drawing.

"I think it's a good idea," Delaney said of the project. "It's for a good cause." She likes the fact Chartwells is donating food to charity.

But Sara Yeager, 19-year-old sophomore from St. Louis, didn't bother eating all of her turkey sandwich at lunch on Thursday. "The food here isn't that great," she said.

Michael Mauck, a 22-year-old senior from Mount Vernon, Ill., didn't eat all his lunch either. "Sometimes I will leave a little bit," he said as he left the cafeteria. Mauck said he leaves food on his plate at times because he's in a hurry to get to class or some other appointment.

Still, Chartwells officials said they're surprised that students don't waste more food.

Half cleaned off

In a half-hour span at lunchtime on Thursday, 28 students turned in cleaned-off plates.

Lindl, the dining director, said about half the plates come back empty during lunch and dinners. That still leaves plenty of wasted food, including lots of deli-meat sandwiches, he said.

Garrett Bone, a 20-year-old sophomore from DeSoto, Mo., left food on his plate. Bone said he was full.

Bone doubts Project Clean Plate will have any lasting effect on students. "I don't think it will change eating habits," he said.

But Chartwells officials insist the project already has made a difference.

They haven't calculated any dollar savings yet. But Weatherly said any savings benefits students by helping to hold the line on meal charges.

More important, the project draws attention to how much food is wasted by students, he said.

"We're at least making them aware," Weatherly said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123