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It’s All in the Details
from 2021 CSR
Implementing Waste Not, the web-based tool that allows accounts to track and measure their food waste at the station level is a no-brainer. But it’s the details that matter, particularly in high-volume operations where just a little waste ‘here and there’ can really add up.
CulinArt registered dietitian at Stony Brook University (SBU) Laura Martorano, MS, RD, CDN, learned this first hand, when she oversaw Waste Not’s implementation two years ago and continued to administer the program during the pandemic.
SBU’s dining services consists of more than two dozen places to eat on campus. “We wanted to make sure that all stations, front- and back-of-house, had Waste Not buckets present,” said Martorano. “If a staff member doesn’t see the bucket, they might not think of it. It has to be in their way to ensure they put all their Waste Not material in it. I have learned where to put the containers and who is responsible for them.” With daily meal volume reaching the tens of thousands, campus dining at Stony Brook benefits greatly from Waste Not. The key to its success was the appointment of a Waste Not Champion at each location. The champions are responsible for entering the waste data on the tracking sheets into the computer system every week.
“To implement Waste Not at this scale, you must be very organized. I found weekly tracking is a better use of time, rather than daily,” says Martorano. “This really is an eye-opening experience, especially with the volume of students. We had a lot of waste, and the program showed us where we needed to make changes or adjustments to reduce it.”
For example, the data can identify if a team member is creating too large or small of a bell pepper cut. It also showed that during the pandemic, when the on-campus volume was much lower than normal, grab-n-go sandwiches were in much greater demand than sandwiches made to order, allowing the team to adjust what was being prepared to avoid leftovers.
