Elizabethtown College students have increasingly been made aware of their waste in the dining hall, not only through the introduction of the KITRO machines in the tray return and disposal area, but also through posts on dining services’ social media profiles which highlight the numbers behind the waste and the most wasted items. 

  “Sustainability has always been an important goal for dining services as seen through our pulper system and our honeybees that we have on campus. KITRO is just a new initiative to help that sustainability effort continue to move forward,” Austin Benner, general manager of dining services at Etown said. 

One effort for increased awareness and to further the support and growth of the KITRO system was announced on March 11 through the dining services Instagram alongside an email sent out to the campus community. It was titled the “Spring KITRO Challenge,” and it aims to reduce the waste produced from the starting date of March 11 till April 15. 

Supporting this goal not only acts as a challenge but also allows for increased awareness about the impact of consumption on the environment. According to FoodPrint, a nonprofit organization dedicated to lowering food waste, 22 million pounds of food are wasted per year by college campuses.

Relating more personally to Etown, in numbers provided by Dining Services an average of 158 servings of chicken tenders were wasted for every chicken tender Tuesday throughout the month of February. Even with that number, that is not even a fraction of the options available to students that are often wasted even in higher numbers such as pasta, fries, pizza and lettuce as shown from the October KITRO results. Knowing that, the campus community must consider the environmental impact that is associated with a high volume of food waste.  

“I really enjoy the new sustainability challenge that is being hosted by dining services. Food waste is a huge problem across the U.S. and to see Etown making an effort to better our world by reducing our waste makes me quite proud as a sustainability advocate,” Kylie Holl, second-year individualized environmental law major said.

Outside of the environmental benefits, Elizabethtown Community Housing & Outreach Services (ECHOS) is one of the main benefactors of the challenge. ECHOS, according to their website, works with the community and volunteers to provide family and individual support services, information and resources, eviction prevention and diversion resources and emergency shelter programs. If students can reduce it to less than 10,000 pounds, $2,500 will be donated to ECHOS. Even further, if the campus community can reduce their waste to 8,000 pounds or less,  they will receive an additional $2,500. Through donating to ECHOS upon successful completion of the challenge the department is not only working to reduce food waste, but also food insecurity for those who are currently unhoused.  

“As a student who interns at ECHOS, the KITRO challenge sounds like a wonderful opportunity for the student body to not only make the campus more sustainable but also benefit the community as a whole as well,” Antonia Raimondo, a second-year social work major said. 

Another benefit for students accomplishing the stretch goal of less than 8,000 pounds is that they can use meal swipes during finals week at Jay Truck. Such a reward is not only beneficial to all the students who will be out of Jay Bucks at that point but will leave a good feeling around campus during the typically stressful time. 

While it may seem that many of the efforts are happening externally within the campus community, internally the department is improving their waste production as well. One of the main ways they are doing so, besides the aforementioned pulping system that allows for food to be reused later in the composting process, they are becoming increasingly aware of guest counts. This prevents too much food being put out and then having to be thrown out. 

For those who are interested and intrigued by the challenge, the most realistic solutions for reducing one’s personal waste may be the simplest– taking less food on the first trip and adding as needed on additional trips.