Wichita State University’s Dining Services is committed to promoting sustainable practices in the Wichita State community. The dining hall and Chartwells are taking steps to become more sustainable and reduce food waste on campus.
“Dining Services is happy to partner with organizations on campus and students to take the steps to be an eco-friendlier and sustainability forward campus,” Matt Pray, senior director of dining services, said.
Below is a list of ways Dining Services is reducing waste, heightening sustainability and caring for the community:
- At the Shocker Support Locker, Dining Services provides donations to help stock the food insecurity pantry on campus. They also donate the Jack and Olive pre-packaged sandwiches and wraps that they are unable to sell in store, but still 100% safe to consume and delicious.
- Some of the food served in Shocker Hall is locally sourced through vendors. The products and produce includes: cage-free eggs, hormone-free milk, fair-trade coffee, certified humane beef patties and low-antibiotic poultry.
- Previously, Dining Services composted food waste through local vendor Compost ICT. But after ending the contract, Dining Services believes that partnering with an on campus agency would enhance the University and strengthen the partnership. They are also planning on starting a hydroponics garden for Shocker Hall. The garden will grow lettuce and herbs. Eventually, they hope to have a greenhouse with vertical gardens and possibly allow student interns to manage the facility.
- Dining Services hosts a “Waste Not Day” twice a year where people dispose of food waste in one place to raise awareness. The wasted food is calculated to show the waste made when taking more food than needed. Along with the same idea, they do internal tracking of pre-consumer/ food preparation waste to track food waste on campus.
- To help out local Shocker students, “Shocker Share a Meal” was created to donate extra food catered through Chartwells. After an event is over, the extra food is left for students to come package and take back with them. There’s a 30-minute window and to-go boxes are provided. This gets rid of the extra food without it going in the trash.
