At the post-consumer level, nearly 40% of all food is thrown away on a global scale. The EPA estimates that more food reaches landfills than any other single material in our everyday trash, constituting twenty-four percent of municipal solid waste. When food is sent to decompose in landfills, it produces methane—a powerful greenhouse gas over 28x more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere, contributing to climate change. Here at Notre Dame, the University is committed to reducing the amount of food wasted at a much larger scale by working to reduce both pre- and post-consumer waste in the dining halls.
One of the staff members championing this work to mitigate food waste is Karen Reed, the Dining Service Manager in North Dining Hall. Karen just celebrated her 6th year with Notre Dame, splitting her service equally between both the North and South Dining Halls. While carrying out a wide variety of front-of-house and back-of-house management responsibilities, she is described as a “sustainability and food “Waste Warrior” helping to oversee both production teams and service teams to ensure [dining halls] are utilizing both Leanpath and Grind2Energy.”
Since 2015, Leanpath software has been used in the dining halls to measure and categorize food waste to reduce overproduction and procurement of regularly wasted items. In just the first six months of use, Campus Dining prevented 76,627 pounds of food from being landfilled—the equivalent weight of over seven elephants! This process also reduced CO2 emissions by an amount equal to burning 3,247 gallons of gasoline. Needless to say, Karen’s job is a critical component of the collective action needed to care for our common home while ensuring everyone who eats at the dining hall receives a delicious and nutritious meal.
Karen reports she is deeply interested in the topic of food waste, making her an excellent person to tackle such a significant challenge. “[The] dining hall—mostly buffet setting—can present its own set of challenges when it comes to pre-consumer waste versus post-consumer waste,” she says. To address this, they use tactics like “menu cycles and inventories of quantities made versus “sold” to help us manage how much we are making for each menu. We conduct regularly scheduled Waste N’ Weigh events in both dining halls, where we set out our green bins in front of our dish carousel and ask students to scrape their plates in the bins before placing them on the dish carousel. We then weigh each bin and collect the data for a more in-depth review. This not only helps us get more specific numbers but also brings awareness to our students and customers as to how much they are putting on their plate and how much they are throwing away. “
To Karen, one of the aspects she enjoys most about working in Campus Dining at Notre Dame is “the opportunities to make a positive difference in all aspects of our operation, from our staff to our customers and students. I look forward to providing the best possible service and to providing a home away from home as best I can.” The next time you see Karen in the North Dining Hall, please thank her for the work she is doing on behalf of our University and the planet.
Learn more about how Notre Dame manages food systems on campus by visiting our food resources page.
Thank you to Cheryl Bauer for nominating Karen Reed to be our September Sustainability Spotlight!
Do you know an individual or team who should be highlighted for their sustainability work? Submit a nomination for them here! Their story may be shared on our monthly Green Ambassador newsletter.
Originally published by at green.nd.edu on September 17, 2024.