Forget dumpster diving: OUSA is now looking at giving away edible leftovers as free meals to minimise the amount of food waste produced by residential colleges.
A trial run in early June saw students queuing for fifteen minutes for eighty frozen meals saved from UniCol kitchens over two weeks. All the meals were given away within the first minute of serving. The scheme has been on hold sine June after concerns were raised about the amount of disposable plastic containers being used.
In New Zealand, enough food is thrown away annually to feed the entire population of Dunedin for two years. The aim of OUSA’s scheme is to reduce the amount of food thrown away by residential colleges; however, only 1% of all food waste is generally edible.
A kitchenhand at a residential college said chucking out food was the worst part of their job. “Sometimes it's just trays and trays of food at once, which really pisses me off”.
However, a kitchenhand from a different college said that the scheme meant that staff had lost out on free meals, a key perk of the job.
OUSA President Caitlin Barlow-Groome said the enviormental impact of the plastic containers was more than the the environmental gain of reducing the food waste. Colleges are currently looking at biodegradable alternatives to plastic containers, but the food service industry charges a higher premium for eco-friendly take-away containers. In addition to this, stringent rules enforced by Healthy and Safety New Zealand require thrice tested protocol specialised to second hand and defrosted meals to ensure minimal risk of food poisoning.
Alternative solutions include keeping the meals as a late dinner option for students living in the residential colleges or introducing portion control education to colleges.