FOOD IS A TERRIBLE

THING TO WASTE
Food Waste Diversion on East Campus
Carolyn Hinman
Environmental Studies
December 14, 2018
 WASTED FOOD VIABLE FOOD IS BEING
UP TO 40% OF THE THROWN AWAY WHILE
RELEASES
FOOD WE PRODUCE MILLIONS OF
METHANE GAS & AMERICANS FACE FOOD
GOES TO LANDFILLS
USES RESOURCES INSECURITY

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CSUMB SUSTAINABILITY OFFICE
▪Mission: “to design and build an inspiring
environment that promotes success for our
campus and community.”

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IMPLEMENT A PILOT BUILD AWARENESS INSTITUTIONALIZE
PROGRAM THE PROCESS

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5

From food waste carts to counter top bins

Table Table at Alliance Fall Festival, October 2017

Survey Survey to assess interest, November 2017

Email Email when first cart was delivered, December 2017

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• December 2017 –
first GreenWaste
food waste cart at
the Saratoga
Center
• August, 2018 -
second food waste
cart at the
Antietam Center

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• March 2018 -
Sierra Club
Ventana Chapter
purchased 300
counter top bins
for residents.

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• Alliance Fall and
Spring festivals
• Main Campus
• Gave information
• Passed out bins

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• Residents
picked up
counter top
bins
• Mason jar soup
mix
• Learned about
food waste
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Promotional materials that
Alliance will provide in new
resident move-in packets.
There is also an email
template that the East
Campus RAs will send to
their residents to let them
know about food waste
diversion.
(I did not create the
GreenWaste Food Waste
poster)

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Food waste makes up the single largest solid component of landfill material, releasing harmful
greenhouse gases and contributing to climate change. In America, over 40% of the food we
produce ends up in landfills, despite the fact that 42 million Americans are living with food
insecurity. (https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/united-states-2030-food-loss-
and-waste-reduction-goal)

If you are interested in helping to keep your food waste out of the landfill and learning more
about food waste diversion, there is something you can do!

East Campus residents can keep their food waste out of the trash by using one of two big yellow
food waste carts - one outside the Antietam Center laundry room at 3001 Antietam Court and
another outside the Saratoga Center laundry room at 2801 Saratoga Ct.

If you are ready to start keeping your kitchen scraps and other food waste out of the trash, all you
need is a container to keep it in until you can bring it to one of the drop off stations. This
container can be something as simple as an empty yogurt container, bucket, or other such
receptacle.

Once your counter top container is full, just bring it to one of the drop off locations and empty it
into the large yellow food waste carts. Please be sure that you are not putting plastic (including
plastic bags), glass, metal or other such materials into the food waste carts.
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The following poster displays all the types of items that can and cannot go into the food waste
containers:
▪ Every week when I rolled the cart to the curb on
Sunday, I took a picture of the contents of the bin
▪ I estimated whether it was <25% full, 25-50% full,
51-75% full, or >75% full
▪ Multiplied midpoints by EPA volume-to-weight
conversion
▪ Multiplied that number by the number of weeks the
cart was at the specified midpoint
▪ These estimates helped me calculate the total
weight of diverted food waste

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 Saratoga Community Center – March 4, Antietam Community Center – August 26,
2018 through December 2, 2018 2018 – December 2, 2018

# of Weight # of
Weight
Range weeks in Midpoint Estimates Range weeks in Midpoint
Estimate
that range (Pounds) that range
(Pounds)

<25% 3 12% 54 <25% 7 12% 126

25-50% 12 38% 675 25-50% 6 38% 338
51-75% 13 63% 1229 51-75% 1 63% 95
>75% 7 88% 924 >75% 0 88% 0
Total Total
SCC 2882 ACC 559
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 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

n = 35 weeks
1 = <25%
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
2 = 25-50%
3 = 51-75%
4 = >75%
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

1 1 1 1

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 n = 14 weeks
1 = <25%
3 2 = 25-50%
3 = 51-75%
4 = >75%
2 2 2 2 2

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Aug 26 Sept 2 Sept 9 Sept 16 Sept 23 Oct 7 Oct 14 Oct 21 Oct 28 Nov 4 Nov 11 Nov 18 Nov 25 2-Dec 17
Total Diversion SCC and
3441 lbs
ACC

metric tonnes of
-0.66 CO2 equivalent
(UT Austin, 2016)

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 12 people
participated in
focus groups and
12 people
completed an
electronic survey
for a total of 24
participants.

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 How did you hear about compost on East Would you compost if you didn’t have the
Campus? counter top bin?
Other

Schoonover Fall
Festival 5
Carolyn
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Word of mouth

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RA

0 2 4 6 8 10
Number of respondents
Yes No Maybe

How important were the counter top Would you compost if the yellow food waste carts
bins in your decision to compost weren't on EC?
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Number of respondents

8 2
7 5
6

1 17
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
20
0 is not at all important, 10 is extremely important Yes No Maybe
 How important is it that compost on EC
continues after you no longer live here?
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20
Respondents

15

10

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
0 is not at all important, 10 is extremely important. 21
▪ How many people are actually diverting food waste?
▪ How much food waste in landfill before the carts?
▪ I did not get a picture/volume every week.
▪ People taking counter top bins.
▪ Cart weights are just estimates.
▪ East Campus diversion numbers not included in CSUMB
reporting.

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▪ People are actually doing it!
▪ People want more drop off locations.
▪ People are willing to go out of their way to divert
their food waste.

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Work with Alliance and EC
RAs on Outreach

Work with ENSTU Dept on

Continued Tracking

Address Recovery and

Redistribution of Viable Food

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▪ There is a lot more potential for diversion on East
Campus.
▪ We need to meet the requirements of AB 1383.
▪ Diverting and reducing food waste is a concrete
and reasonable way to reduce carbon footprint.

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THANK YOU
Dr. Victoria Derr – School of Natural Sciences
Lacey Raak – Director of Sustainability
Rita Dalessio and the Sierra Club Ventana Chapter
Robert Jones, Sara Treat, Billie Miller, and GreenWaste
Recovery
East Campus RAs
Andrew Porteus – Student Housing & Residential Life
Beth Little – Student Housing and Residential Life
Alliance Residential Company
Bruce and Janet Hinman
 ▪ EPA. (2016, April).Volume to Weight Conversion
Factors [PDF]. US Environmental Protection
Agency.
▪ EPA. (2018, October 15). Greenhouse Gas
Equivalencies Calculator. Retrieved from
https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-
equivalencies-calculator

REFERENCES ▪ EPA. (2018, October 26). Sustainable

Management of Food Basics. Retrieved from
https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-
food/sustainable-management-food-
basics#what
▪ UT Austin. (2016, March 30). The University of
Texas at Austin. Retrieved from
https://www.utexas.edu/

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