1
Collett Litchard
Nathan Cole
ENGL-2010-071-Sp14
May 7, 2014
Food Waste in Utah
The United States Environmental
Protection Agency, or EPA, estimates that
somewhere around 38 million tons of food is
wasted yearly in the United States. 96% of that
food waste enters our landfills and creates
harmful greenhouse gases (EPA, 2014). Much of
the food waste that enters landfills can be
recovered and either composted or used to
alleviate hunger for the 1 in 6 Utahans that go
hungry every day (Utah Food Bank, 2014). There are programs available that combat food waste
while feeding the hungry and saving the environment, such as Campus
Kitchens, Food Recovery Network, the Utah Department of Solid and
Hazardous Waste Composting Facility Guide and Ecoscraps. Although
programs such as these, which all specifically target food waste, are
available in Utah, there has been little participation to reduce food
waste using these programs and they need a more prominent place in
our society using the media as a source of advertisement because food
waste, hunger and harmful greenhouse gases go hand in hand.
2
The Campus Kitchens Project and the Food Recovery Network are two programs that are
trying to help with food waste recovery at a local level that are not being utilized to their
potential here in Utah. Both of these organizations recover otherwise good food on its way to
landfills and use it to feed the hungry. The food they collect is given to food banks in their area.
The Campus Kitchens Project, which prepares and distributes meals made from recovered foods,
has zero participating facilities in Utah (The Campus Kitchens Project, 2014). The Food
Recovery Network was started in 2011 by students at the University of Maryland to help reduce
food waste at their facility. The only two participating units in Utah are Weber State University
in Ogden, Utah, which is northern Utah and Brigham Young University in Provo Utah, with a
mid-state location. Both of these Utah universities started their local chapters in 2013. Weber
State has recovered over 1,000 pounds of food and BYU has recovered over 3,300 pounds of
would-be wasted food (Food Recovery Network, 2014). If these two schools are an example of
the positive impact action based programs can have, we as a state-wide community can make an
even bigger impact by starting more chapters throughout the state. With so little Utah
participation in these two programs, it is imperative that more be done in the state of Utah so that
CPK by the Numbers
3
our one in six hungry citizens have better access to life sustaining foods. We can do this by
advertising these programs on the local television, radio and media sources.
The only efforts seen in Utah at a governmental level that address the reduction of food
waste has been in the form of a composting facilities guide on the Utah Division of Solid and
Hazardous Waste website in 2012 (UDSHW, 2014). The composting facility guide states in the
first sentence that this guide is not a rule. In other words, it is not required that a business create
and use a compositing facility, it is merely a suggestion. The website gives the researched
numbers and explains the benefits of composting to a business’s operations (UDSHW, 2014).
This all sounds really compelling, but aside from occasional recycling stations for paper, plastic
and aluminum, when was the last time you saw a food waste recycling station? Even on the
Utah Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste website, navigation to find composting facilities
around the state is difficult. Most consumers aren’t even aware of the program, let alone the
locations of where to take their food waste. Unless it becomes easier and more convenient, even
environmentally conscious consumers will despair and likely not participate.
Ecoscraps, with only two Utah locations, takes inedible food waste and turns it into
organic soils through the composting process, thereby
preventing it from entering the landfills and creating
harmful methane gases that wreak havoc on the
atmosphere. Ecoscraps goes around to Utah retailers
collecting the food waste that would be sent to landfills.
They then turn around and sell the organic soil they create
from the food waste and in local retail establishments. The
Ecoscraps Tomato Bundle
two participating retailers are Gordon’s Nursery in Huntington, Utah and Sutherland’s Lumber in
4
Price, Utah (Ecoscraps, 2014). The entire rest of the state is void of the benefits of the Ecoscraps
program. It would be beneficial to Utah’s environment if Ecoscraps were more widely advertised
and available.
What Utah lacks in the effort to reduce food waste is consumer awareness. The local
media has a great opportunity to promote programs such as the four mentioned above.
Commercials can be created to bring awareness to businesses and private citizens alike. Do a
Google search on “food waste in Utah” and mostly what comes up is news on the statistics. On
KSL.com, a local Utah news station, the latest news on food waste had to do with the summer
lunch program, and how shameful it was that a lot of that food gets thrown into the trash because
the children can’t eat it in the time allotted (Wimmer, 2014). None of the stories mentioned on
their site dealt with promoting the programs that are working towards a solution, therefor Utah
needs more exposure and participation in food waste reduction programs from our local media.
The evidence showing the lack of consistent and impactful food waste reduction program
participation and awareness in Utah is overwhelming. With little support and practically no
media coverage, The Campus Kitchens Project, The Food
Recovery Network, UDSHW composting facilities guide
and companies like Ecoscraps, have little chance of making
a difference in the fight against food waste and the effects it
has on hunger and the environment. Feeding the hungry
and protecting the environment are effects of food waste that must be remedied. Utah citizens
are uninformed and inconvenienced when it comes to food waste reduction programs. More
must be done in the media to bring attention to the vast problem of food waste so that not only
the environment is protected, but our state’s one in six hungry are well fed.
5
Works Cited
The Campus Kitchens Project, The Campus Kitchens Project, 2001. Web. 4 April 2014.
Ecoscraps, Ecoscraps, 2013. Web. 5 May 2014.
EPA, “Reducing Wasted Food Basics”, 16 March 2014. Web. 5 May 2014.
Food Recovery Network, Food Recovery Network, 2013. Web. 4 April, 2014.
Wimmer, Nadine, “Untouched food goes to waste at school feeding programs”, KSL, KSL, 2014.
Web. 4 April, 2014.
UDSHW, Utah Division of Solid Waste and Hazardous Waste, Solid Waste Management
Program, Composting Facility Guidance, May 2012 revision, Web. 21 February 2014.
Utah Food Bank, Utah Food Bank, 2006-2014. “Fighting Hunger Statewide”, Web. 4 April
2014.
6
Image Citations
The Campus Kitchens Project, CPK by the Numbers, 2013 Calendar Year. Web. 7 May, 2014.
Ecoscraps, Ecoscraps Tomato Bundle, 2014. Web. 7 May, 2014.
Food Recovery Network, Food Recovery Certified, 2012. Web. 7 May, 2014.
Love Food Hate Waste, Love Food Hate Waste, 23 March 2012. Web. 7 May 2014.
Blog Epa.gov, Reduce Food Waste, 17 April 2014. Web. 7 May 2014.