Pearson College UWC
Down with Food Waste and Up with Sustainability

My school Pearson College UWC, is well known for a historic recycling program, modern methods of water conservation; and efficient programs for monitoring of electricity, natural gas and paper use. Coastal location of the forested campus makes nature an inherent part of our life. Furthermore, students are required to work as kitchen team members and assist with recycling on the campus. This integrates conservation of environment with our routines, rather than it being something that requires special attention.

Values of personal responsibility and respect for environment are inherent to the campus life at Pearson. My focus in this report is how the school tackles the problem of food waste.

Food waste is a common side effect or our consumerist society and Canada is also not untouched by this- A sad reality when people in underdeveloped parts of our world are still undernourished, starving and dying of hunger. Additionally, it is not hard to see that besides waste of money due to over production and consumer waste, food wastage is an undue drain on essential water and land resources, while also contributing over use of chemical agents and pesticides; as well as adding to GHG emissions and climate change.

The Pearson community is well aware of the importance of minimizing food waste and this is kept in mind while planning the school kitchen for the residential campus. The meals are meticulously assessed to reduce food waste. The school is supported in this goal by their one-stop food and facility services provider, Aramark, a company that includes responsible sourcing, waste minimization, efficient operations and fleet management as mission statements under its CSR goals.

To quote Luke Taylor, Food Service Director at Aramark, “It all starts with how we manage our resources in the kitchen and ends with personal responsibility.”

Students, faculty, staff and other campus inmates eat at the campus cafeteria. Weighing stations are in place to track food waste (including production and storage waste) on a daily basis. A computerized analysis of the results against the daily menu gives a guideline that serves as a valuable tool to reduce waste by adjusting the menu and the food production to align with the usage. At times if excess or unwanted waste is noticeable for any specific menu items, the said item are removed from the menu.

The kitchen goal of efficient production and waste reduction process starts before the food reaches the kitchen. Aramark uses forecasting and various effective tools as a part of their software to include thorough evaluation of ordering, receiving, storage, production, portioning and leftovers.

Meal plans are drafted after adjusting the production worksheets and standard recipes, with due consideration to the forecasted consumer counts. Needless to say that standard recipes are more cost effective as they ensure consistent ingredients and quantities. However, a reasonable variety is still maintained.

Meals are planned for set time periods. During this time data is tabulated and analyzed on a daily basis. Food is duly labelled during production, with all production logged on production worksheets. Ingredients as well as ready food is subject to thorough QAQC checks for quality and taste, before being moved to appropriate storage. Serving is then handled as per set portion sizes and temperature, which are further logged on the serving worksheets. Measurement of waste bins is conducted regularly. After a meal period, results are extracted from the logged details to plan relevant changes for the next menu cycle towards effective waste reduction.

By following these steps food waste is minimized or totally eliminated while ensuring wholesome nourishment packed meals. As I read on their website, Aramark have put food waste and monitoring programs in place at several universities and colleges around Canada. In my opinion such measures should be put in place at commercial kitchens, restaurants and canteens/cafeterias, towards the ultimate goal of reducing food waste and a zero hunger world.

Sources and References

https://www.pearsoncollege.ca/minimizing-food-waste-maximizing-sustainability/

https://www.aramark.ca/about-us/responsibility/environmental-sustainability

Image Credits

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