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UCSB has begun a student-led composting project. The best part is that students are the ones doing the sorting. While that means a lower food waste capture rate than when staff do the sorting, it ups the awareness quotient!

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Saving money by composting? A Montana food bank is doing just that by composting their own waste. Would that composting was always less expensive than using the landfill!

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Uh oh, some bad news from the UK: Grocers failed to meet their self-imposed food waste reduction goals. The British Retail Consortium announced the news in their progress report.

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Students at Missouri are apparently cool with trayless dining. Also–there’s a student paper called The Maneater?!

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A UK restaurant was caught dumping food waste into their neighbor’s dumpster. Oops.

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Unilever is hoping to help food service companies Wise up on Waste.

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Let me know if I missed anything else in the food waste world late last week–I was busy welcoming my second child into the world (while trying hard not to notice the abundant hospital food waste)!

The pride of Poughkeepsie (N.Y.) won the EPA WasteWise Game Day Challenge in the Per Capita Organics Reduction category. If you select ‘Organics Reduction’ in the pulldown menu, you will see that tiny Marist destroyed the competition, outpacing both the green giants at the University of Colorado at Boulder and those Harvard overachievers.

And it seems Marist may have a bit of a dynasty brewing. They won the inaugural organics challenge in 2010. Go Red Foxes!

Check here to see if your school participated.

There are some other interesting findings in the report, which Unilever will send to you if you request it.

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Meanwhile, there’s some interesting chatter at Vanderbilt about what’s more wasteful–all-you-can-eat meal plans or those that feature an entree and two sides. I’m pretty sure it’s the former, but this discussion hints that a points-based system (which it seems non first years have) might work best.

More than anything, the piece illustrates a heightened awareness to waste among this year’s freshman class.

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I’m a sucker for cause-based mascots. This UK-based WISE owl is kinda fun.

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Nice to see public funds going toward a Love Food, Hate Waste Campaign…in Australia.

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It’s interesting to get a waste hauler’s perspective on greening events and composting.

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Finally, I gotta give my pal Ashley (of Lovin’ Spoonfuls) her props because she’s a one-woman food recovering machine:

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Mary Baldwin College of Virginia reduced waste by 60% during their Sustainable Meal Week! Really shows how much fat is there for the trimming.

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Whether you call them Freegans or foragers, more Spaniards are eating from the trash. And here’s a look at whether Dumpster diving jibes with Jewish values.

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Finally, the Recyclemania results are in. While the exercise has its merits, I’ve always been confused by the Food Service Organics category. Shouldn’t we reward reduction (fewest pounds per student?) instead of rewarding schools for using and composting the most pounds? In that case, congrats to Nova Southeastern Univ. for producing 0.00 pounds of food waste per student!

Yet, I was disappointed to learn that the school’s dining halls still had trays. But…they’re trying. While they make trays available–because of overcrowding at meal times, the dining services folks said–this sign is posted right above where they’re stacked.

I love how the poster clearly lists the four rationales for traylessness: eat less, waste less, save water, save electricity. Of course, I’d put the second one first…

Anyway, right after students have decided to use or forgo a tray, they’re hit with another poster (made by ND’s crack in-house designer). Kinda cool, eh?

Waste comes in two forms: food disposed of in the garbage and food disposed of in the human body. When you eat beyond satiety…Yup, you’re treating your body like a trash can.

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Fort Hays State University is the latest landing spot for Chartwells’ Project: Clean Plate. The only real question I have is: colon or no colon?

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More fallout from the Global Food and Farming Futures report: The study’s Chief Scientific Advisor said that “halving the amount of food waste by 2050 could boost today’s annual production by a quarter.”

I’m pretty sure I get that.

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Freeganism (the practice and term) has reached Ohio State and Australia.

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Finally, if you’re going out with a big group in Hong Kong, don’t forget 6 is the new 8.

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It’s definitely that time of year where pantries are busiest. Yet this year, they’re really struggling to keep up with rising demand:

The Cleveland Foodbank has provided 50percent more food during the past two years. As of Nov.30, Toledo Northwestern Ohio Food Bank had distributed 38 percent more food than in the first 11 months of last year.

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Only five more days to help send a copy of “DIVE!” to every Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods in America.

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UCSB just announced that Marborg will collect and compost all campus food waste. Somehow, all I can think of is a Terminator-like composting cyborg.

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Finally, if you’re curious what one of my book readings looks like, you can watch one via Book TV.

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Half the fish caught in the North Sea are being thrown back…dead?!?

Fish Fight wants to do something about it.

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Talk about using the whole cow! Amtrak has begun powering a train  between Oklahoma and Texas with 20% ethanol made from rendered cow fat. That’s one of the “industrial uses” the EPA hierarchy talks about.

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Finally! After receiving my on-publication check, I’ll be able to afford my new summer cottage complete with a built in composting system.

[for those not clicking on the link, I'm kidding...]