Each day, workers at the three all-you-can-eat dining halls on campus collect barrels of food waste, left by overindulgent or sated students.
At Penn, this waste is thrown out and taken to landfills. However, at many other schools around the country, uneaten food is either composted -- decomposed into a dark, crumbly substance that enriches soil -- or donated to local charities.
Kate Moran, a spokeswoman for Aramark, the company that provides food for the University's dining halls, said that Aramark has a policy that prohibits the donation of leftover prepared food.
"We cannot guarantee the safe transport, storage and preparation of the food once it leaves our premises," Moran said. "If the food is not appropriately handled, it may pose a health risk to the intended recipients."
Penn does not currently practice composting; however, Moran said Aramark would welcome proposals from students willing to initiate a composting program.
Last year, Colby College, a liberal arts college in Maine, composted 50 tons of waste.
"By composting, you return to the environment sustainable, renewable soil without chemicals," said Joe Klaus, associate director of dining services at Colby. "It saves water and cuts down electricity usage."
Other schools, such as Pennsylvania State University, have student-run, volunteer-based organizations that deliver food to nearby charities and soup kitchens.
"We can use up our leftovers this way and without feeling bad about throwing out food," said Lisa Wandel, the associate director of food services at Penn State. "We are careful our employees don't overcook in order for there to be leftovers. It has really worked out well."
The University of California, Berkeley, donates an undetermined amount of post-consumer waste and 70 tons of pre-consumer food waste annually to an organization known as Berkeley Worms. BW is a student-run, nonprofit composting program.
Kim LaPean, marketing coordinator at Berkeley, recommended both composting and food donation as good options.
"It is a great environmental thing to do, it gives back to the community," LaPean said. "We are making the most of what we have. The donations are great. We have a huge crisis in the Bay Area with homelessness."
And with 400,000 citizens living below the poverty line in Philadelphia, many are calling for similar programs at Penn.
Political Science professor Mary Summers, who teaches the course "the Politics of Food," said that creating an organized food donation program would be something for Penn to look into.
Summers said that although donation projects are not always as easy as people think they might be to set up, they are worthwhile undertakings.
"You have to be careful in order to do it right, make sure that temperatures are adequate for the food -- if something needs to be kept warm or cold," she said. "I'm really interested in how can we use Penn to improve the whole food system in a way that can have a positive effect on poverty."
