Chen Xinrui, Jiang Yuxin, Ma Yufei, Yang Ruiyuan, Zeng Chen
Academic Advisor: Mr. Lim Cheng Puay
Food waste is a growing concern worldwide, which poses a threat to the world economically, environmentally and socially (Costello, Birisci, McGarvey, 2016). As RVRC is a residential college which aims to build sustainable life, the food waste in the RVRC dining hall needs to be controlled. Our project asked the food flavor and the amount of food which RVRC’s dining hall provides so that we can find the main reasons why they waste food. Then we explored some suitable ways to reduce the wastage. First, we conducted a survey amongst residents to ascertain reasons for food waste and assess the feasibility of various solutions. Our results show that the main reasons for wasting food are the flavor is not suitable and the food amount is too much. More than half of students want to have the flavor of each dish to be presented on the label so that they can make a better choice. Also, nearly 50% of students will not choose the original size of food if the dining hall provides different size of food. We recommend the RVRC dining hall to write the flavor of food on the labels of each dish. Also, the dining hall can provide food as small, original and large size to give more choice for the student. Students can choose the food amount and flavor better and reduce food waste.
Keywords: Responsible consumption; food waste; Dining hall