Food Waste Weighing Wednesdays

Hello everyone! Welcome back from Thanksgiving break! I hope you all had a great time, hanging out with your families and relaxing. Isn't it nice to be able to take some time off? I know I certainly enjoy it.

So, this is the premiere of our new MAC blog. I am going to be writing in here regularly, to tell you all of the things you should know. My name is Denise, and I am the marketing person for MAC (Morrisville Auxiliary Corporation). I'm hoping that you all will stop in here from time to time to find out what's going on. I'll be sharing all kinds of important information that people on campus should know. I thinks it's going to be a fun place here in MAC blog land, so make it a regular online stop!

Okay, introduction over now - I have the first bit of information that you should know! We at MAC are trying to be more "green" conscious. We're researching ways that we can help the environment - starting with small things like using both sides of the paper that we print on and recylcling all of our plastic bottles. Well, this week starts our next step in this process: Food Waste Weighing Wednesday, at Seneca Dining Hall.

What, you may ask, is Food Waste Weighing Wednesday, at Seneca Dining Hall? Well, I'm glad you asked! We are trying to find out how much "edible" waste is thrown away every day. We may not think we throw much away, but if you add up everyone's edible waste over the course of a day, it's bound to add up, right? So we're going to start weighing it.

This is a process that won't require anything from the person eating at Seneca, so don't worry! You get your meals and eat as you normally would. When you're done, you bring your tray up to the dish return, just like always. Only instead of throwing everything away in one bin and setting the dishes on the belt, you'll give your tray to a staff member who will be there. At this point, your job is done. Easy! Now that the staff member has your tray, they will put all of your "edible" waste - things like leftover French fries or fruit or bites of sandwich - even drinks that aren't empty - into a bin seperate from the actual trash. This edible waste will be gathered up and weighed at the end of the lunch period, and the results will be posted on Thursdays, here on this blog, in e-mail and on posters that will be hung up at Seneca.

We're hoping that this endeavor will simply open our eyes to how much food gets thrown away every day. Because after all, we have to be aware of things like this before we can change for the better.

So, remember - if you go to Seneca on Wednesday for lunch, expect to see us at the dish return, gathering up your edible waste.

And welcome back to school! We missed you while you were gone.