It's part the U.S. Environmental Agency national Food Recovery Challenge. According to the organizations, the goals of this voluntary program are to limit the 34 million tons of food wasted nationwide annually by reducing unnecessary consumption and increasing composting and donations to charity. Participating schools pledge to reduce food waste by five percent in one year.
The EPA says food accounts for 25 percent of all waste sent to landfills nationwide-more than any other single material.
Every university and college is invited to join the Food Recovery Challenge, with several institutions
committed to the program already, including:
University of Texas at Arlington
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Baylor University-Waco, Texas
University of Houston
University of Texas at Austin
Rice University-Houston, Texas
New Mexico State University, Las Cruces
The Food Recovery Challenge is part of the EPA's Sustainable Materials Management Program, which seeks to reduce the environmental impact of food and other widely-used everyday items through their entire life cycle, including how they are extracted, manufactured, distributed, used, reused, recycled, and disposed.