Remember the good old days of early dorm life, when freshmen heaped their trays full from the dining hall smorgasbord and then ended up throwing huge portions of their bounty into the trash?
No more, at least not at UC Riverside, where trays have been eliminated in dining halls and plate sizes have shrunk, all part of the university’s efforts to significantly reduce food waste on campus.
Today, UC Riverside recycles 100 percent of its cooking oils and composts more than 250 tons of discarded food, tumbling it dry in a giant dehydrator so it can feed the soil at the campus R Garden, said John Cook, UC Riverside’s director of sustainability.
Those are just two of the many programs UCR has launched to reduce food waste on campus. It’s also raising awareness about the issue with speakers sponsored by the UC Global Food Initiative, such as food waste expert Jonathan Bloom, who is coming to UC Riverside on Feb. 16 and UC Riverside’s Palm Desert Center on Feb. 17 to discuss why we waste food, why it matters and what we can do about it. His talk is open to the public.
