The University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth celebrated America Recycles Week with a visit from Dennis Deziel, Regional Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's New England office, on November 13.

"As EPA is celebrating America Recycles Week, we are happy to highlight UMass Dartmouth's dining services team for their ongoing efforts to reduce food waste and to boost sustainability," said Deziel. "The innovation and leadership exhibited by this team can be a model for many other food service businesses who are seeking to reduce waste, improve profitability and help protect our environment."

Earlier this year UMass Dartmouth was awarded "College/University Partner of the Year" for the EPA’s 2018 national WasteWise awards.

The university’s dining services were recognized for a series of achievements to increase the institution's sustainability efforts, which successfully reduced UMass Dartmouth’s food waste in 2017.

Their team utilizes EPA's "Food Recovery Hierarchy" in its effort to reduce food waste. The team begins by managing production and purchasing to minimize leftovers.

Dining Services also donates unsold, prepared packaged foods weekly during the school year to local liturgical ministries serving the homeless.

In 2017, Dining Services unveiled a new program called Meals with Dignity, in which student volunteers work with the chef to package meals made with high-quality leftover food from the dining hall on a bi-weekly basis and to deliver meals to the on-campus food pantry.

Recipients of the surplus food are very enthusiastic about these efforts, which help fight local food insecurity.

"Working collaboratively with students and with other departments within the University has helped us to make successful strides in our sustainability achievements on campus," said Steven O'Riley, Resident District Manager at Chartwells Dining of UMass Dartmouth.

EPA's WasteWise program encourages organizations and businesses to achieve sustainability in their practices and to reduce industrial waste.

Participants in the program work to prevent and divert waste that would otherwise be disposed of in landfills or incinerated. Every year EPA recognizes WasteWise partners in various categories who report the best overall improvement in waste prevention and recycling activities when compared to the previous year.

Nationwide, the efforts by UMASS Dartmouth and the other nine national WasteWise awardees collectively prevented and diverted over 356,000 tons of waste from entering landfills and saved the organizations over $19.6 million in avoided landfill fees.