Carbon Negative: Reducing Dining’s Carbon Foodprint at Penn State
Pennsylvania State University
Description
Abstract Diet is an often unrecognized, but large contributor to our carbon footprint. An average American diet has a carbon footprint of 1.72 metric tons of CO2-eq every year,1 which means that approximately 130,000 metric tons of CO2-eq are emitted by all 77,000 Penn State undergraduate enrolled across the commonwealth. At 14,000+ students living on just University Park campus, PSU Dining essentially feeds a small city. The strategies to lower our carbon footprint through dining choices chiefly center around eating more plant-based foods, sourcing food locally, reducing food waste, and using alternative materials for to-go containers.
Penn State Dining Services already has the infrastructure to implement a number of strategies; however, the majority are underutilized. The reasons for this are cost, an already established culture, lack of student and dining staff engagement, and lack of education. This study analyzed the efficacy of additional sustainability solutions that can be promoted at Penn State. This study examined Penn State’s dining infrastructure to find areas of opportunity for more sustainable operations by conducting staff interviews, reviewing data from Dining Services, as well as reflecting on personal experiences from eating in the University Park dining halls for two years. The study also compared and contrasted PSU Dining sustainability programs with other large universities and analyzed the feasibility of strategies that have been proposed to PSU Dining in the past, but never implemented. An analysis of the three-week menu cycle from Spring 2016 to Fall 2020 was performed to gauge how many plant-based options were provided over time. In addition, a cost analysis of the to-go container options was performed using previously acquired data and literature values. Finally, purchasing data was used to calculate the current carbon impact of PSU Dining’s beef and pork acquisitions.
These analyses found several ways to lower the carbon footprint of dining at Penn State including: implementing trayless dining in the dining halls; starting a Meat “less” Mondays program; creating more plant-based signage; increasing the dietary completeness and taste of plant-based entrees; sourcing food locally; standardizing sustainability initiatives across the commonwealth; and reducing food insecurity through a partnership with Lion’s Pantry and the library. The findings of this study will be presented to Dining in the form of a report as well as continuation of the project through the Carbon Negative Solutions program at Penn State. Although some of these findings and recommendations may not be able to be implemented immediately next semester due to current social distancing restrictions, they can begin to be piloted in Spring 2021.