Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 47.80
Liaison Kate Witte
Submission Date Feb. 17, 2012
Executive Letter Download

STARS v1.0

Keene State College
ER-2: Student Sustainability Outreach Campaign

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 5.00 / 5.00 Mary Jensen
Sustainability Consultant
via KSC Provost's Office
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution hold a campaign that meets the criteria for this credit?:
Yes

The name of the campaign(s):
The "Carrot"Campaign (reducing food waste)

A brief description of the campaign(s):

Dining services at KSC are managed by Sodexo Group. They partnered with the Office of Sustainability Programs (OSP) to look for ways to reduce food waste in the dining commons in the 2010/2011 school year. Sodexo measured and reduced their food waste behind the serving tables. The OSP collected plate waste on three consecutive Tuesdays in September and again on three Wednesdays in Feb/March 2011. We had posters with the wasted food amounts and stickers for those who had no food waste.

In addition, Sodexo told "the story of the carrot" throughout the academic year. The Carrot Story reminds customers of the systemic waste behind throwing away even a single carrot. They did this with a metal/mache 10 foot long carrot hung on the wall, designed by one of our sculpture students, informational handouts and a person dressed as a carrot at select events.


A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign(s):

We saw significant food waste reduction from the first week to the third while doing the plate waste audits.

In addition, students were actively telling us, while we were doing the audits, that they felt guilty not finishing their food, some even sitting down and finishing their food when they saw us. We are trying not to encourage overeating as an unintended consequence of this work. There was a message on the message board complaining that the carrot message was being received loud and clear.


The website URL for the campaign:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

We have also been creating nutrition and food related videos in conjunction with the Health and Wellness Office and students from the film studies program. Here's a sample. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6gfF4bkNvQ&feature=channel


We have also been creating nutrition and food related videos in conjunction with the Health and Wellness Office and students from the film studies program. Here's a sample. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6gfF4bkNvQ&feature=channel

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