Reducing Food Waste

Reducing food waste on campus has been a top priority for Dining Services, in partnership with the UGA Office of Sustainability and UGA Facilities Management Division, over the last few years. In addition to reuse and recycling efforts, such as donating food to The Food Bank of Northeast Georgia and the Full Plate Program and introducing recyclable pizza boxes to Niche Pizza Co., we have eliminated all non-compostable items from the dining commons. We’ve also extended our compost efforts to include food left over on plates at Campus Catering and food scraps from preparing food in the back-of-house at our retail locations at Tate. Food waste from fruits, vegetables, grains, and coffee grounds and other compostable items are pulped and sent over to the Bioconversion center, where it is composted. This compost is then used in campus landscaping projects.