During the week of deliberations, I went to one about sustainability here at Penn State. There were a lot of points brought up that really made me thinking. To my dismay, Penn State is in the bottom three of the Big 10 schools in sustainability. I was really surprised because I thought with all the different recycling and trash options and green initiates on campus, we would be more environmentally friendly. As the deliberation went on, it really made sense to me on why we’re not number one: the composting bins have been taken out of dorms, many people just throw everything away or do not sort it into the correct bins, lots of food is always wasted, lots of energy wasted, and so much more. I really want to focus on waste produced by students, both trash and food waste that make our campus unsustainable. 
Sustainability is defined as “the simultaneous pursuit of human health and happiness, environmental quality, and economic well-being for current and future generations.” We have all talked about how we need to change so that our future and our children’s future will not be ruined. Penn State has an entire sustainability website (https://sustainability.psu.edu/live ) which features operations Penn State has initiated to be sustainable. A big deal at our campus, at least I think, it the recycling and composting offered. There is an entire poster on the website which gives descriptions on where to sort things. I think the two big issues with sorting into the correct bins are peoples’ laziness and not knowing where to put things. The only time sorting into the correct bins has been touched upon for me has been on my tour. I don’t remember learning about composting and recycling correctly at NSO, obviously not a first year seminar because I’m in this class, or by anyone in my building or the dining hall. People need to be educated in order to do things correctly. Another part that plays a role in people utilizing recycling and composting bins is people’s effort exerted into doing so. If people don’t care about the environment, it doesn’t matter to them if they sort correctly or put the correct things in composting bins. A woman who works in the janitorial department, overseeing the waste disposal at the university, came to the deliberation and said that if someone puts as much as a plastic fork in the composting bin, that entire bag of compost has to be thrown away because of FDA regulations. So, people’s laziness and failure to take the couple of seconds to dispose properly leads to other people’s efforts being pointless. I found that really shocking that the whole bag would have to be thrown away as something so small can ruin something so important. Composting is important for many reasons, one of which being that it helps to reduce the amount of waste being put into our landfills. That brings me into my next point, food waste.
So much food is wasted in the world, especially on college campuses. According to Food Recovery Network, approximately 130 billion pounds of food are wasted every year in the US. That is almost an unfathomable number to think about. 22 million pounds of food wasted comes from college campuses. That means approximately 17 percent of the total food wasted in America comes from college students. I think a big part of so much being wasted comes from buffets in the dining halls. Students grab more than they can eat and are left to throw it away. I would like to think that most of the students who grab food from the buffet line compost it, although I am not certain if that is true or not. I think a big issue, at least here, comes when people take things to go and take it back to their dorms. Back at your dorm, it is easier to just throw everything away rather than recycling the paper pizza box and composting whatever you don’t eat. Also to bring up the point that composting has been taken away from inside the dorms because people were not using them correctly. Again, it comes down to how willing people are to take a few seconds to do what is environmentally friendly.
I think that educating people is what is going to really help solve the issue of waste at college campuses. People need to know what impact they are having directly on the environment and on future generations. It would be my hope that if people knew what they were doing to themselves and others, they would be more willing to make a conscious effort to waste less and sort items correctly.
Websites used:
http://www.earthtimes.org/going-green/importance-composting-help-eliminate-organic-waste-fertilize-soil/82/
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/food-waste-at-us-colleges-and-what-to-do-about-it_us_57bcbc22e4b007f1819a1070
http://sustainability.psu.edu/recycling-and-composting#recycling-composting
Makenzie,
It is so refreshing to hear that you went to a sustainability deliberation during Deliberation Nation week! Way to use your resources for your blog.
Honestly, it doesn’t surprise me that Penn State is one of the worst schools for sustainability. When I moved into my dorm room I was quite surprised that there was a compost bin in the trashcan. I was taken back in both a good way and confused way. How could that be clean?
You mention a great point; kids are lazy and uneducated about this kind of thing. It is easier not to think and just throw it in the same bin.
It is so surprising that if one incorrect item is placed in the wrong bin the whole thing must be discarded. That is also very sad too because how many bags are actually composted then? I can’t imagine many, at that point.
According to TheBestCollegeReviews.org, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is the most eco-friendly college in the US. I took a look at their website and they offer a lot of locally grown foods from farmers, they do not use trays, and only reusable cups and to-go containers are allowed. Although we do have these things, they are not as strictly enforced. Personally, I do not use the green to-go containers because I was never educated on how they work.
I definitely agree with your points on educating more people, especially college students so the laziness is eliminated.
Works Cited:
https://dining.unc.edu/sustainability/
https://www.unc.edu/search/?term=sustainability
https://www.bestcollegereviews.org/top/green-colleges/
https://sustainability.psu.edu/track-our-progress
Mackenzie, I really like that you chose to discuss food waste, especially how we as students affect and contribute to it. I know it’s been mentioned in other posts, but it really is deserving of its own. It’s such a common issue, with, in my opinion, relatively easy to implement solutions. People just have to be more educated and conscious of their consumption and waste. While this may not eliminate all food waste, such as along supply chains and at the retailer level, but it certainly won’t hurt it.
In America alone, nearly one half of all produce is thrown away, and a total of about one third of all food gets wasted. The U.S. leads the world in food waste production; in fact, discarded food constitutes the majority of all waste in U.S. landfills (Environmental Protection Agency). In turn, these landfills contribute a significant amount of methane to greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, exacerbating climate change. Because of this, in 2016 the EPA started their Net Zero Initiative, in order to evaluate ways to reduce the amount of food waste sent to landfills, starting specifically in Columbia, South Carolina.
This also made me want to change some of my own actions. I’m for sure guilty of being lazy about throwing stuff away, and could at least do my part to solve instead of contribute to this problem. Just using the various waste disposals correctly and being conscious about energy consumption are little daily things that can help rather than hurt the environment.
Links:
https://www.epa.gov/sciencematters/americas-food-waste-problem
https://www.nrdc.org/issues/food-waste
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/07/american-food-waste/491513/
Hi Mackenzie,
I really enjoyed reading about the topic of food waste and sustainability. The topic is so relevant in our lives, and I connected with most of the information presented. Believe it or not, sustainability is very prevalent in my current life. As a SHOTIME mentor, one of my teachers, Dean Peggy Johnson of Schreyer, is focused on sustainability as our theme for the upcoming year. We were presented with the 17 goals of sustainability that the United Nations hopes to accomplish. I learned that sustainability is not just about the environment, yet it encompasses various aspects of development such as education, poverty, hunger, and the economy. In addition, she stated that we can not fix one goal without the others. For example, goal #4 focuses on quality education for all. As mentioned in my previous post, the education of women is extremely important in combating climate change. Therefore, by educating women, we can increase awareness for community sustainability (goal #11). Then, we can truly tackle climate sustainability (goal #13). Thus, there is essentially a hierarchy of sustainability. Unfortunately for our goal of environmental sustainability, this comes much later down the line.
I also really liked reading about the waste at Penn State. I constantly go to the buffets and get more food than I can eat. Ultimately, I do throw away some because of the sheer amount of things that I grabbed. I really did not notice how much I threw away until Penn State implemented a TV system in front of the trash area. This TV shows the average amount of food waste per student with various other facts. I believe that this certainly made me more aware of my eating habits and the amount of food that I put on my plate. Thus, I feel the promotion of awareness will help make others aware and reduce the food waste at Penn State. I truly think that Penn State is trying to make a big effort in sustainability. From EcoReps to Green2Go to composting/recycling, they have implemented the correct resources to make the change. Now, a little more awareness needs to be spread to further the impact on campus. Overall, I found your post very thought provoking and interesting to read.
Sources:
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/
https://sustainability.psu.edu/track-our-progress
Hi Mackenzie,
I strongly agree with you that food waste is a significant problem around the campus. I would like to tell my experience that I worked in north dining hall. When I was assigned to dish room and every time I dump food waste into composting bins, I felt guilty for lots of food waste(even some just never be eaten). One extra job beside dumping food is to sort food and utilities. One sad thing is that lots of people here really can’t realize the importance of sorting. Therefore I think improving and increasing education about how to save food and how to sort food and utilities is really important and useful.
Moreover, I was shocking about the given information that about 22 million pounds of food are discarded only on campuses. It almost made up of 1/5 of wastes around the world. This really tells food waste issue is so urgent and we can’t wait to find the best solution for it. I read an article from New York times that tells me that food waste is not only an environmental issue but also an economical issue. The great amount of food waste is equal to the same amount of monetary values lost.
Overall I enjoyed reading your post about food waste. We all need to raise awareness and act for it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/26/us/food-waste-is-becoming-serious-economic-and-environmental-issue-report-says.html
https://sustainableamerica.org/blog/campuses-fight-food-waste/