University of Wisconsin–Madison
At UW–Madison’s six dining market locations, staff work hard to feed students by preparing buffet-style meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. To meet the expected demand and decrease food waste, dining market staff use data from annual food waste audits and Leanpath technology to carefully adjust recipe quantities. Though these efforts have been effective at …
In a world in which college students are always on the lookout for a good (and free) meal, Free Food Alert has become the ultimate campus hack. Imagine you’re walking across campus, trying to decide what to eat for lunch, when suddenly your phone buzzes with an alert: Free pizza at the student center! Discover …
Imagine a meal from your favorite restaurant. Now imagine one-third of it sitting in a truck, heading to a waste facility. This is the reality for most eating establishments. A large quantity of a restaurant’s most ordered food is prepared at the beginning of the day, and the portions that are not sold are wasted. …
According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, “edible food waste and scraps are the largest contributors to Wisconsin landfills.” While UW–Madison has set a goal to achieve zero waste on campus by 2040, there are many individual actions you can take to reduce your waste. To prevent food from going into the landfill, here …
With a plethora of dining halls, badger markets, restaurants, and catered events, surplus food is a common occurrence at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. However, rather than reaching food-insecure students, this excess often finds its way into the trash. Enter the UW–Madison Chapter of Food Recovery Network (FRN), an organization whose mission is to minimize food …
After hosting Earth Week for the last six years, the Office of Sustainability is partnering with the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies to launch Earth Fest, an annual celebration of Earth Day filled with over 50 innovative, exciting, and sustainable events. Join a growing campus community of experts and passionate students seeking to advance sustainability …
In Wisconsin, the effects of climate change have already become apparent. Over the last several years the state has been challenged by the warmest and wettest decade on record, early and toxic algae blooms in Lake Mendota, and diminished ice cover on Wisconsin lakes. The winter of 2024 was especially mild, marking the warmest winter …
In our In Case You Missed It series (also known as ICYMI), student interns from the Office of Sustainability offer reflective reports on sustainability-related events and lectures at UW–Madison. The following entry is by Britta Wellenstein. The People’s Farm celebrated this years’ harvest season with the Fall Harvest Festival, a day of sunshine, smiles, and surprises …
This article, by Alyssa Seitz, is part of a series highlighting members of the Office of Sustainability’s Experts Database. In a collaboration with instructor Madeline Fisher’s course, LSC 561: Writing Science for the Public, students interviewed campus sustainability experts and produced short feature stories. Plant-based meat products have recently seen a surge in popularity, as …
In an era where food waste and sustainability are critical global issues, hope emerges from the halls of education. The University of Wisconsin–Madison, renowned for its commitment to excellence and forward-thinking initiatives, is taking a pioneering step towards combating food waste by offering a pilot program of the Free Food Alert system to the campus …