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August 6, 2024
Every day at Luther Cafeteria, potential food waste is diverted to produce compost to fill the earth, and prepared food that hasn’t been served is repackaged to serve other food-insecure people in and around Decorah. A video from Luther shows how the school is reducing food waste, driven by its commitment to environmental and civic sustainability.
This chart towards the school’s zero waste goal exemplifies Luther’s civic sustainability initiative. Since 2020, this Luther initiative has developed partnerships between student teams, universities, and like-minded organizations in the Decorah community and northeast Iowa.
“Food waste used to be the biggest item that left Luther’s Union and ended up in landfills,” said Jon Jensen, director of the Center for Sustainable Communities, which runs the Caf to Community program. “Composting is the best and most environmentally friendly way. ” way to manage our food waste. ”
Located at Dahl Centennial Union, Luther Cafeteria (commonly referred to as Caf) is the residents’ dining room.
It should be noted that Luther Café does not have garbage containers. Instead, Caf staff separate all food waste and compostable towels in the dishwashing room, where they are rinsed in a container, sent to a shredder, and collected in buckets. Compostable waste created during the food preparation procedure (such as stems and peels) is also collected by Caf staff for composting.
Some of the food waste is sent to Luther Farm on the outskirts of campus. There, Luther has his own compost pile for food waste. Sustainability scholars collect compostable food waste from campus and cafeteria bins and bring it to Luther Farm.
Luther also worked with the city of Decorah to compost their food waste. The city has worked with citizens to expand a sustainability plan, which calls for the city to be 0 waste by 2040. To this end, the city won a grant to reduce food production. waste at the Winneshiek County landfill.
“As part of this grant, one of the components of the Luther College network,” said former City Engineer Jeremy Bril. “The city is working with Luther to collect some of the food Luther already gathers on campus. »
About twice a week, city workers come to pick up food waste and take it to the city’s recycling center. The city collects an average of 2000 pounds of Luther’s food waste.
Luther also has the Caf to Community program, which aims to ensure that smart foods are distributed to others who want them, a way to reduce food waste. This program not only reinforces Luther’s environmental sustainability, but also expands the perception of civic sustainability. and build communities of mutual support.
Since Luther serves pre-prepared buffet meals, some of the food remains and is served. Café to Community volunteers collect these unused foods and repackage them into single-serving frozen meals. It is delivered to local food pantries, such as Decorah Community Food Pantry and Northeast Iowa Community Action.
Caf to Community is a student-run program. Owen Matzek, a senior senior, served as the program’s assistant principal and will assume the role in the fall of 2024.