Food Recovery and it’s Impact
We are excited to announce our new Food Recovery Network verification, recognizing our efforts to feed people, not landfills!
We ramped up our food recovery program in March 2015 by creating systems for each kitchen to donate directly to our neighborhood food shelf on a regular basis. The “kitchen” line in this graph indicates all back of house organics, including trim waste, spoilage, overproduction, etc. Although we’ve always donated food before periods of being closed, before March 2015 we did not have a system in place for day-to-day food donation. In the first year of the program, we donated about 15,000 lbs campus-wide and approximately 8,000 lbs of that came from our locations in the Davis Center.
We knew those donations were having an impact on the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf because we were hearing positive feedback directly from our partners there. Especially about our grab-and-go items that didn’t require reheating, a bonus for patrons without kitchens.
The graph above shows that we also significantly reduced the volume of organics being sent to Green Mountain Compost. Where feeding people is important from a social perspective, there is also an important environmental impact that our donation program has. Vermont’s Universal Recycling and Composting Law encourages businesses and residents to prioritize their diversion practices based on the following hierarchy in order to maximize the positive impact and minimize the negative impact of discarded organics.
We’re so proud to be recognized by the Food Recovery Network for the effort that our amazing staff has put into this program. We look forward to growing the program even more!