University of St. Thomas

Food

We recycle 

• Food scraps including bread, vegetables, fruit, meat, and all other edible waste

We do not recycle

• Coffee grounds
• all non-edible waste

How and where we recycle

• Currently, food product is only recycled in the Murray-Herrick main kitchen and dining room
• Users of the student dining room leave all food waste on their plates when they bus their food trays.  The food waste is scraped off and collected into special food containers for recycling.
• The Brute food containers are taken to the Murray dock by Dining Service employees where they are picked up by an Isanti County pig farmer for recycling

Facts about food waste

• In 2006, UST kept 87 tons or an average of 7.25 tons of food waste every month out of the landfills by recycling
• Food waste accounts for 13% of Minnesota's garbage
• More than one quarter of America's food, or about 96 billion pounds of food a year, goes to waste in fields, commercial kitchens, manufacturing plants, markets, schools, and restaurants.  While not all of this excess food is edible, much of it is and could be going to those who need it
• Each year, about 27% of America's food gets thrown out, with more than 300 pounds of food per person ending up in landfills.  The cost for municipalities alone to dispose of such food exceeds $1 billion in local tax funds annually
• A study by the University of Arizona Garbage Project, found that Americans throw away 1.3 pounds of food every day, or 474.5 pounds annually, compared wish the 1980's estimates that each household threw away 3 pounds of garbage per week or 156 pounds annually
• The nation spends an estimated $1 billion a year to dispose of excess food.  Instead of wasting this food, livestock farmers could use some excess as animal feed.  Food scraps can be composted to create a valuable fertilizer.  A food waste reduction hierarchy  -- feed people, then animals, then recycling, then composting -- serves to show how productive use can be made of much of the excess food that is currently contributing to leachate and methane formation in landfills.
• Thirteen state-licensed food waste recyclers consume an estimated 4000 tons monthly of leftovers from commercial sources to feed livestock in Minnesota.

By keeping recyclables out of the trash, we reduce the cost of UST waste removal, decrease the rate at which our community's landfills are filling up; recoup the value of recyclables for the general fund, and clean up air, earth , and water by reducing the added pollution that result from refinement of virgin materials.  Recycling makes a difference!