An update on university efforts to have more environmentally responsible food

Camille Mesenbourg
Fri, 10 Nov 2023 02:16:51 +0000
Campus, Instagram Page, News, chicken, dairy, Dining Halls, food sources, local, Mike Shelton, Ohio farms, single-use containers, sustainability institute, sustainable

Traditions at Scott is one of the main dining halls on campus. Ohio State is currently looking to make more of its food sources across campus more sustainable or local. Credit: Brooke Tascar | Lantern Reporter

In 2018, Ohio State launched a plan to make at least 40 percent of its food sources sustainable or local by 2025.?

Now just a little more than a year out from that deadline, Mike Shelton, associate director of Ohio State’s Sustainability Institute, said it’s unlikely the university will reach that goal. Many obstacles, including COVID-19, have made it difficult to have precise data on the proportion of sustainable and local food available on campus because products pass through many different hands.

“Do I think we’ll hit 40 percent? Probably not,” Shelton said. “But I’m hoping [we] will be further along than if we had just set 20 percent.”?

Shelton said food must be produced within a 275-mile radius of the campus to be considered local within these standards. Local food production has a lower carbon footprint, considering the distance it must travel and how many different people handle the product before it arrives on campus.?

Currently, all the chicken served and 85 percent of the liquid dairy on campus falls within the 40 percent goal because it comes directly from Ohio farms, according to the Sustainability Institute website.

Shelton said prior to the pandemic, the university estimated that only 25 percent of food met the 40 percent sustainable or local food target. If the goal isn’t met in the time left, new targets will be set in the coming years to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.?

These goals are part of Ohio State’s project to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, which aims to make the Columbus campus 25 percent more energy efficient by 2028, and has reduced carbon emissions by 30.3 percent since 2015, according to the Sustainability Institute website.?

The sustainability factor is an important part of the service the university should provide, according to university spokesperson Dave Isaacs. The university has been working on other aspects of sustainability in dining, including the introduction of reusable containers at Traditions at Scott this semester.

“These containers — students check them out and then bring them back,” Isaacs said. “This has diverted a great number of single-use containers away from the landfill.”

Similarly, Isaacs said the university started a composting service, which is being tested in several residences on campus.?

“We will see where that goes, but we are very excited about the possibility of expanding our composting effort,” Isaacs said.