Moving Out With a Purpose: Fighting Food Waste on College Campuses

Move Out for Hunger Reclaims Food From College Dorms

When the school year is coming to a close, and final papers are turned in, students are in a hurry to pack their belongings for the trek back home.

Moving out of a college apartment or dorm room leaves behind plenty of waste, including usable food items. Students rush to make sure all their dorm room decorations and photo collages make it to the car, but sometimes the unopened box of Pop Tarts sitting on a closet shelf doesn’t make the cut. 

On Campus Food Collection

In order to combat food waste on college campuses across the country, the Food Recovery Network and Move for Hunger partnered to create Move Out for Hunger. At six participating colleges from Connecticut to Washington D.C., student leaders and these two organizations partnered to collect unused, non-perishable food items to deliver to local food banks. 
 

  Food Waste Fact
One in seven Americans are unsure of where their next meal will come from, yet 40 percent of food produced goes to waste, costing $162 billion each year.
- Food Recovery Network
 

We are proud to have sponsored Move Out for Hunger at Southern Connecticut State University on April 26th. On campus, students recovered approximately 3,450 pounds of food at the event – enough to create 2,875 meals.  “History has shown us that college students tend to be at the forefront of groundbreaking movements,” said Regina Anderson, Executive Director of Food Recovery Network. “In line with this trend, Food Recovery Network student leaders have positioned themselves as prominent voices urging our society to realign the way we think about food waste.” “We’re hoping to continue to expand our impact and make next year’s event even bigger and in more communities.” Annie Lobel | Chief of Staff, Food Recovery Network

 

Actively Working to Reduce Food Waste

Food Recovery Network is the largest national student-led movement working to combat food waste and hunger in the United States. Student leaders at 218 college campuses in 44 states have recovered more than 1.9 million pounds of surplus food over the past five years. 

Move for Hunger is a nonprofit that focuses on collecting food items from people who are moving, in addition to working with companies and individuals in the U.S. and Canada to organize food drives. To date, more than 7.8 million pounds of food has been collected. 

Interested in participating at Move Out for Hunger in 2018? Sign up to receive more information and to get in contact with Food Recovery Network. 

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