What Happens to Your Food Scraps at the Food Zoo
Whether you are a freshman with a meal plan or an upperclassman who tries their best to pack a lunch every day, chances are you have probably been to the Food Zoo once or twice during your time at UM. But once everything is said and done, and you’ve eaten all you could possibly eat, do you ever wonder what happens to the food that is left on your plate after you set it on the conveyor belt? And for that matter, what happens to any of the food waste that is produced by the University of Montana campus? Is it thrown away? Is it composted?
Well, if you’ve ever wondered about any of these questions, you are about to find an answer because we reached out to campus dining to find out exactly what happens to your food scraps after you set your plate down on the conveyor belt in the Food Zoo!
The answer is not as mysterious as one may think, in reality, all of the pre-and post-consumer waste from the Food Zoo, Food Court, UM Catering, and Rise + Rooted is all composted. This means workers are actively collecting all the bits and pieces of food waste that are produced while preparing those delicious chicken strips and fries that we all enjoy occasionally from the Food Zoo and R+R. It also means that every compostable food boat or leftover bagel bit that you throw in the “compost” bin at the university cafes is actually being composted!
Another sustainable thing about UM’s food waste systems is that every campus coffee shop is required to compost all of its coffee grounds. Imagine the cups of coffee that you drink each week, then multiply that number by the number of students who have class on campus. That is A LOT of coffee beans! Thankfully, they are all composted and disposed of in the most sustainable manner possible.
Now to get to the question that spurred this entire post! What happens to the food scraps on your plate once you set it on the conveyor belt at the food zoo? According to Campus Dining, the plates are whisked away by the conveyor belt into a dish room where staff are awaiting their arrival. The food scraps are then separated into “non-compostables” like muffin wrappers or sugar packets and “compostables” which is basically everything else. It’s a very simple process that is very sustainable when it comes to reducing food waste. So don’t worry if you don’t finish all the food on your plate, your scraps aren’t headed to the garbage!
As for the composting service that UM utilizes, Campus Dining partners with Missoula Compost. All of our compost from campus is compiled three times a week and picked up by Missoula Compost! The compost is then hauled to Garden City Harvest, an organization that is a leader in the Missoula community for the “green” food movement.
Overall, the University of Montana’s food waste system prioritizes sustainable solutions and is effective at diverting a large amount of potential waste from our campus waste stream. Campus dining does a fantastic job of making connections with local partners like Garden City Harvest to help promote responsible stewardship of our planet by composting almost all of the food waste that is produced on UM’s campus!