Food waste solutions company celebrates Campus Sustainability Month with New England colleges

October was Campus Sustainability month, and this year’s focus was on food waste management, a topic on the forefront within college dining's focus on sustainability. It is fitting then, that waste-to-renewable energy and anaerobic digester company Vanguard Renewables stepped up to help New England college dining programs celebrate the month and their ongoing commitment to wasting less food.

For many colleges, there doesn’t seem to be an issue getting diners motivated around sustainability. In fact, there seems to be a demand for sustainable dining options. Students in Massachusetts, for instance, have spearheaded community garden initiatives and other sustainability efforts, according to a statement.

"As college students, we’re in a critical habit-forming period of our lives, making it the perfect time to develop sustainable lifestyles,” said Katie Lavrov, class of 2027, Smith College, in the statement.

As a response to this demand, in part, some colleges in New England have partnered up with companies like Vanguard Renewables, which helps operations process organic waste into renewable energy. Some of Vanguard Renewable’s college partners include Smith College, Amherst College, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

“Vanguard Renewables is excited to play a part in helping Massachusetts’ colleges and universities to reduce food waste and to repurpose that which can’t be eaten into something good for the planet – renewable energy,” said Kent Bartley, president of the Organic Solutions Division at Vanguard Renewables. “As Vanguard expands from coast to coast, it’s our hope that more colleges and universities will follow suit and realize there is a better way to dispose of food waste than landfills or incineration – and we are here to help.”

And Vanguard Renewables has helped its college partners on various sustainability efforts. It helps one college partner, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, to divert organics from the waste stream and use them to produce energy and fertilizer.

“We have worked diligently to steadily develop and improve an organic waste diversion program that combines onsite composting of materials for reuse on campus, to a large-scale food waste collection program that involves recovering materials from the campus dining halls and retail food location,” said Michael Dufresne, collection and moving manager, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Some New England colleges used Campus Sustainability Month as an opportunity to enhance their food waste management strategies and engage with diners and the local communities on the importance of reducing food waste. The colleges hosted workshops, seminars, waste audits and other sustainability initiatives in honor of the month.