On average, college students waste 142 pounds of food each year — amounting to 22 million pounds nationwide that are served but ultimately thrown away.
A team of Northeastern University MBA students has developed simple yet innovative ways to reduce food waste in campus dining halls.
While overserving is a major cause, there are also more subtle reasons behind the waste, says Ogechukwu Ibeama, a second-year MBA student.
To better understand the problem, Ibeama and his teammates researched why students waste food — and then identified solutions to address it.
Their project, called Sustainabite, proposes a series of simple steps to cut food waste by 25% to 30%. Sustainabite earned first place in Northeastern’s inaugural Sustainability Innovation Competition, standing out among 2,000 submissions.
Solution No. 1: “Taste 2 Try” sampling stations
Students would be able to sample foods before committing to a full portion.
“The ‘Taste 2 Try’ idea came from my own personal experience,” said team member Oluwaseun Abiola. “If it’s something I’m not familiar with and I don’t like the taste, I end up throwing it out.”
Sampling could be as easy as providing small tasting spoons at serving stations, Abiola said. “If you like the food, you can ask for more. If not, you haven’t wasted a full plate.”
Many students, especially those coming from different parts of the world, may not be familiar with certain dishes, Ibeama added.
“If students could sample food first, we believe there would be less waste,” he said.
Solution No. 2: Serve smaller portions
Students — or dining staff — could serve smaller initial portions, with the option to request more.
“We noticed that students often serve themselves too much, and even when food is portioned by staff, the servings are still large,” Ibeama said.
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“Sometimes, the eyes are speaking for the tummy,” he added, noting that students’ eyes are often bigger than their appetites.
Team member Lydia Dampare Addo emphasized that even staff-served portions could be adjusted smaller to help curb waste.
“One of the things that we notice is that the spoon they are using seems a little bit big,” Addo said. “So one of the recommendations that we gave was to change the serving spoon.”
Solution No. 3: Green Plate
Sustainabite’s third step is Green Plate, a gamified reward program to encourage sustainable dining choices. Students would sign up on an app and track their eating habits. Rewards for not wasting food might include a discount for the school store or Husky dollars.
Ibeama, Abiola and team member Levi Ijebor are originally from Nigeria, while Lydia Dampare Addo is from Ghana. The four students have collaborated on several projects during their two years together in Northeastern’s MBA program.
“We have a common mission and goal to drive sustainability,” Ijebor said. “So that is what has driven us all together.”
Studying business models that integrate sustainability during an MBA course inspired Addo to seek solutions to global challenges like food waste.
“I think this competition was an opportunity to say, ‘Hey, we’ve learned some of these things,’ and see what we can do in real time to have a real impact,” she said.
The group is working with dining services to implement their ideas.
“We’re all trying to leave a footprint in Northeastern, not just get the certificate, because it’s important to humanity,” Ijebor said.
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