Food, Waste

Timeline

Start: 2018-2019

Ended: 2020-2021

Status

Completed

Description of the project 

At the time this project started food recovery efforts were limited to baked goods and processes to reuse food within dining commons operations.  Student interns worked with mentors from Environmental Health & Safety and Campus Dining to develop a series of options for launching food recovery. A pilot program was settled on where students would pick up food from campus stores (The Arbor, Coral Tree Cafe, and Courtyard Cafe) via bicycles with trailers.  They would then deliver the food to Miramar Food Pantry for distribution.  

Goals

• Reduce food waste in the dining commons

• Increase food for food insecure students

Outcomes/metrics 

The program collected a modest amount of food during the pilot.  That said, the pilot and early work on developing food safety guidelines inspired the dining commons to adapt, expand, and institutionalize the model. In 2020, Campus Dining applied for funding from the UCSB Food Security and Basic Needs Taskforce to create a food recovery model in Portola Dining Commons that distributed food through the Miramar Food Pantry. In 2024, that model was expanded to include all campus dining commons.  One contributing motivation for that expansion was the passing of Senate Bill 1383. Campus Dining still works to first minimize food waste to the greatest extent possible and then recovers what it cannot reduce upfront.