Release Date:
2/8/2016
U-M students are feeding the need
Food Recovery Network chapter reaches 10,000-meal milestone
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- What do University of Michigan students do with more than 13,000 + pounds of food? They recover it and share it, producing 10,000 meals for local residents over a two-year period. All the while saving energy, reducing hunger and lessening the impact of food waste on the environment.
Dedicated U-M student volunteers with the Food Recovery Network (FRN) have joined forces with Michigan Dining to recover food from campus dining halls, divert it from the waste stream and deliver it to Food Gatherers (the Washtenaw County food bank) where it can be served to those who need it most. The U-M chapter is one of the first four in the nation.
“There are 51,000 people in the Washtenaw County area who are food insecure,” says Eileen Spring, president and CEO of Food Gatherers. “The end users of the food brought to us by Food Recovery Network will be people receiving a hot meal in a program or group home...we appreciate the variety and quality of the food they bring, and the dedication of the students.”
Here’s how it works: The FRN supplies dining halls with aluminum food trays and coolers in which to store the food. The food is labeled with the recovery date and all recipe ingredients. Items can be frozen for up to six weeks. The coolers are then delivered to Food Gatherers.
The U-M chapter was formed in 2013 as a student-led initiative to bridge the gap between food waste and hunger. Funding comes from an $8,000 Planet Blue Student Innovation Fund grant, the university’s sustainability initiative, to finance the cost of supplies. The all-volunteer program, which began in just one dining hall and has grown to include all major halls on campus, also received funds from the national chapter.
The impact is not just on local hunger needs, though, says Madison Togrul, U-M FRN president.
“The dangers of food waste are also significant to the environment. One third of food ends up in landfills,” she explains. And according to the the Environmental Protection Agency, food waste that goes to the landfill breaks down anaerobically and produces methane; methane is 21 times more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas. “This type of program bridges the gap between waste and hunger.”
It also helps the university meet its 2025 sustainability goals, which includes reducing waste tonnage diverted to disposal facilities by 40 percent below 2006 levels.
For more information on U of M’s Food Recovery Network, visit https://maizepages.umich.edu/organization/FRN.
Media inquiries should be directed to Susan Thwing at susanthw@umich.edu or call (734) 764-3632 or (248) 396-1083.
About Michigan Dining
Michigan Dining, a Student Life auxiliary at the University of Michigan, offers a wide variety of services through seven dining halls and 17 markets and cafes conveniently located across the Ann Arbor campus. Michigan Catering also delivers services for both university and private clients. Sustainability is a core focus of Michigan Dining, which works with local farmers to procure fresh ingredients. University of Michigan was the first among Big 10 universities to achieve Marine Stewardship Council certification for providing sustainable seafood to diners. For more information, visit http://dining.umich.edu.