“Cradle to Grave”: An Analysis of Sustainable Food Systems in a University Setting

Abstract

The ultimate goal of this research was to understand the process of food service sustainability through a limited “cradle-to-grave” analysis of Southern Illinois University's (SIU) campus dining facilities. The process of researching the dining halls' sustainability was broken into three separate stages: food mileage analysis, food waste analysis, and vermicomposting analysis. The first stage results determined that the dining halls were 15.67% sustainable in its food purchasing process. The goal for the university was to obtain a 20% purchase rate of sustainable products. The total carbon foot print for the university was 1533.5 tons of Co2 for 1,990 items. This carbon output is equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions from 278.82 passenger vehicles. The total mileage of the food items was 775,394.50 miles. The second stage of the research calculated the average amount of waste that was produced per student. SIU's dining halls utilize a new system of service called trayless, where trays are removed and students have to fill up a plate instead of a tray. The average food waste per student was 1.04 oz a day. Currently, the waste produced is very limited. This demonstrates that trayless dining has proven effective and needs to be continued. The final stage was a vermicomposting analysis in which a pre-composting phase was introduced to expedite the vermicomposting process. The amount of time taken for this pre-composting phase was still longer than anticipated. The longer time frame translated into additional monies to pay for utilities for the building and payroll for the workers. Vermicomposting, although, ecological friendly does not appear cost effective in this setting. This study demonstrates how universities can begin the process of sustainability. By using several methods that have been investigated to increase sustainability (food mileage calculations and tray-less dining), university food services should be able to implement more sustainable practices in order to encourage making our universities green.