One month per semester, Notre Dame Food Services, GreeND, and the Office of Sustainability team up to run Waste-Free Wednesdays. This event, which runs the last 4 Wednesdays during the month of April, encourages students to take only what they need from the dining halls and to avoid wasting food. Notre Dame’s dining halls currently create 1.2 tons of food waste per day. The Waste-Free Wednesdays Program is intended to actively reduce this waste and raise awareness. When students return a waste-free tray to the tray return during the event, they are entered into a raffle to win $100 in FlexPoints.
This series of events runs from 6-7pm each week in both North Dining Hall and South Dining Hall. It is run by student volunteers with assistance from dining hall staff. For the last week of the month-long campaign, Waste-Free Wednesdays includes Waste-n-Weigh. Waste-n-Weigh measures the total food waste per tray to measure progress on the reduction of food waste on campus.
Max Ducey and Sean Gervais are the coordinators for Waste-Free Wednesdays for North and South Dining Halls, respectively. They are proud of the progress that has been made because of how far the program has come since they have been here. They are excited to help people commit to food sustainability and make an active effort to reduce the food that they take in the dining halls.
Our volunteers understand the issue and enjoy committing their time to promote campus sustainability. They are committed to stopping the 1.2 tons of food waste every day and bringing a positive change to Notre Dame.
Participants are confident that the lessons learned during Waste-Free Wednesdays will be employed year-round. Waste-Free Wednesdays are just a reminder of the waste that is possible if people are not conscious of exactly how much food they are taking.
Are you a student and interested in volunteering for or learning more about Waste-Free Wednesdays? Sign up here or send an email to sgervais@nd.edu.