A use for waste

College students are wasteful. When it comes to dining hall food that is served all-you-can-eat, the situation is only exacerbated, as students heap plates full of food that never gets eaten because they "paid for it."

But though many are careless with what they throw away, that is no reason why food service firms should be, too.

At Penn, countless -- really, they don't actually count -- tons of food are wasted in on-campus dining facilities each week. Aramark has down to a science what to serve in the University's dining halls, but the Philadelphia-based food service giant is missing a golden opportunity when it comes to the leftovers.

It's about time Penn and Aramark come up with a plan that takes some of that wasted food out of the landfill and puts it to good use.

It would be nice to think that those excess meals could go to charitable causes -- there are, after all, plenty of hungry mouths to feed in Philadelphia -- but the logistics and liabilities of serving leftover food pose an understandable problem. Regardless, Aramark should look into ways to safely distribute unused food to those who could use it most.

Even if that is not possible, there are other actions that could be taken.

At Washington State, 85 percent of dining hall waste is turned into compost that can be used in agriculture. Cornell started composting eight years ago, and now it processes three tons of uneaten meals every week. Tufts reduced by 62 percent the amount of waste that was sent to local landfills by composting two and a half tons of food each day.

Penn could boast similar results and help the environment in the process. Students should urge administrators and Aramark alike to engage in composting. And if nothing else, students can be less wasteful themselves when grabbing food.

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