The Residence Hall Association (RHA) and North Dakota State Dining partner to put on a program twice a semester called Waste Busters. The program was back to promote reducing food/liquid waste within the Residence Dining Center. On Nov. 14 and 15 of this year, we tracked for the second round of the semester by using live tracking. For live tracking, volunteers were stationed in front of the dish return collecting dishes and discarding of any leftovers. Throughout the day the waste was weighed.

On Tuesday, Nov. 14, food waste was 217.3 pounds and liquid was 170.15 pounds. On Wednesday, Nov. 15, food waste was 226.06 pounds and liquid waste was 153.6 pounds. The total amount of waste for both days was 767.11 pounds. The results from the live tracking are quite exciting. RHA and NDSU Dining is excited to share that the amount of reduced food/liquid waste between October and November was 362.94 pounds.

RHA and NDSU Dining plan to continue incorporating various ways to help educate the students on campus about and how to help reduce the amount of food and liquid waste that is accumulated each day. Information to promote awareness of food waste was placed in the napkin holders in the dining centers along with posters within the residence halls. A Snapchat filter was available for students in the Residence Dining Center for those who were willing to take the pledge to reduce food waste. The goal of this program is to promote, educate and bring awareness to NDSU students about sustainability. We will be tracking again twice in the spring semester.