CDT Fall 2022 - 38

Knowing what should go in the recycling,
compost, and landfill bins is sometimes
difficult to discern. While it may seem like
a menial subject, unworthy of more than a
couple of seconds of consideration, waste
sorting is one of the
most important things a
foodservice team should
know about if they want
to advance sustainability
in their operations.
But we realized that our
At The University of
Texas (UT) at Austin
Housing and Dining, we
faced a challenge that
virtually every higher
education institution also experiences: high
contamination levels in our waste streams. Our
dining staff seemed to constantly confuse the
items that should be recycled and those that
should be composted. But we realized that our
dining staff-everyone from the food preps to
the custodians-weren't the problem.
dining staff-everyone
from the food preps to
the custodians-weren't
the problem. They were,
in fact, the solution.
They were, in fact, the solution. By engaging
directly with our staff through fun, studentled
trainings involving waste-sorting games
(which we offered in multiple languages to
increase accessibility), we created a program
with the goal of reducing our waste
contamination and showing our
team how much we valued
their contribution to our
sustainability goals.
Our Zero Waste student employees
within UT Farm Stand-a studentrun
program that addresses
issues related to food system
sustainability-created an interactive
in-person training for the dining
staff to learn about waste sorting. The training
incorporated a collaborative game and a pop
quiz. The Dining staff learned why recycling and
composting are important, about terms such as
" wish-cycling " and " waste contaminants, " and
the specific challenges and gray areas regarding
38 CAMPUS DINING TODAY | MAKING WASTE FUN AND ENGAGING
CDT Fall 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CDT Fall 2022
