51茶馆

By Stephanie M. McPherson

Food rotting in landfills pours methane into our warming atmosphere, and production of that wasted food produces carbon emissions the equivalent of 33 million vehicles. Institutions like Boston College have a responsibility to manage their food waste and ensure their 15,000 students and 3,500 employees know how to do the same.聽

That鈥檚 why this year鈥檚 Eagles Sustainability Competition (ESC) saw the Schiller Institute, Carroll School of Management. and the Undergraduate Government of Boston College (UG51茶馆) teaming up with 51茶馆 Dining to task students with finding a solution to campus culture鈥檚 relationship with food waste. The three winning teams addressed this prompt in unique and creative ways, engaging what they鈥檝e learned in classes from computer science to psychology to economics.聽

鈥淲e saw a lot of interdisciplinary teams, which is exactly what we want to see,鈥� says Liz Healy, a member of UG51茶馆鈥檚 Environmental and Sustainability Division and a junior studying political science. 鈥淎ll the teams this year were super high caliber. Part of the reason we picked the winners that we did was because they were tackling the culture on campus and not just a specific technical issue that could be figured out with administration.鈥�

The Competition, now in its second year, asks interdisciplinary teams of undergraduates to solve a sustainability related problem on campus. 2023鈥檚 inaugural competition focused on waste and carbon emissions associated with 51茶馆 athletics. 2024鈥檚 looked at the more day-to-day issue of what to do with excess food in the dining hall.聽

Eighty-five percent of the 51茶馆 student body has a meal plan, meaning 51茶馆 Dining serves nearly 25,000 meals a day. Dining has made great strides toward sustainability in recent years, committing to purchasing local food when possible and implementing programs such as LeanPath and EveryBiteCounts to help reduce food waste.聽

But there鈥檚 only so much the Dining administration can do. Front-of-the-house efforts like composting and choosing reusable dinnerware require buy-in from students that has not been happening at the hoped-for rate.聽

鈥淲hen we look at our student population, we know our sustainability interns and certain student groups are all in,鈥� says Megan O'Neill, director of Procurement and Systems for Auxiliary Services at 51茶馆. 鈥淏ut so much of the population is not. And so how can we help foster that?鈥澛�

From Games to Greenhouses

Nine teams presented on March 22 at 245 Beacon in front of a panel of faculty and staff representing departments and administrations from around campus. The judging panel also included multiple 51茶馆 alumni, who have pursued careers related to sustainability or have a personal interest in the topic. All teams impressed, but the winning proposals focused on increased student engagement.聽

First place went to , made up of sophomores Junsoo Chung (double majoring in Economics and Computer Science), Isyarya Sylbert (an Environmental Science and Biology double major) and Carter Frato-Sweeney (majoring in Applied Psychology). JIC proposed the creation of an app called Eagle Eats Royale (a play on the idea of a battle royale) to teach students about composting and recycling, and reward students for their food-related sustainable behaviors. Points gained on the app could be translated to 51茶馆 store cash or even, potentially, tickets to 51茶馆 games.聽

鈥淲e found that the student body lacked a lot of knowledge about proper recycling, composting, and trash technique,鈥� says Sylbert. 鈥淥ur goal is to widen both their knowledge and also their engagement with sustainability and think of it as something that's more important, not only in Boston College dining, but also in their practices and daily life.鈥澛�

The judges believed their gamification system would appeal to students who need some external motivation to start the occasionally confusing process of learning about sustainable practices.聽

鈥淭his group really focused on 鈥� a bigger systemic change,鈥� says O鈥橬eill. 鈥淭he app that [they鈥檙e] talking about, making it fun and competitive, we just think it could go a long way.鈥澛�

Second place was awarded to the team , for their idea of an AI-powered data collection system to track the types of food students throw away and inform Dining鈥檚 decisions regarding menu items and portion sizes. In their proposal, cameras would be installed above compost and trash bins in certain dining halls. The images gathered would be fed into a machine learning-powered system that analyzes which aspects of which dishes are being trashed the most. The system, once trained, would be so precise that it could differentiate between excess rice being thrown away from Tikka masala versus a burrito bowl.聽

The team engaged the student-run Machine Intelligence Group to write and train the program, and monitor it should it be implemented. This approach could be especially impactful as Dining considers a shift from an a la carte model to all-you-care-to-eat, which would make it harder to keep track of which food items are being purchased.聽

鈥淸We really liked the] fantastic collaborative integration between multiple different fields of study amongst 51茶馆 students providing a solution and being the solution rather than needing outside sources really to start implementing some sort of structure,鈥� says Emily Kaiser, 51茶馆 class of 鈥�14, Attorney at Holland and Knight & Adjunct Faculty (CSOM).

The third-place team, proposed the use of a composting-to-fertilizer-to-greenhouse system that would introduce the idea of a circular food economy to 51茶馆 Dining. Their plan would have Boston College partner with Ecotone Renewables, a company co-founded by Elliott Bennett, 51茶馆 class of 鈥�21.聽

Ecotone makes a large-scale composter that directly turns food waste into carbon negative fertilizer. Braemore went further to suggest 51茶馆 use this fertilizer to treat its lawns and provide nutrients for new greenhouses 鈥� built from recycled bottles and maintained by environmental clubs on campus 鈥� that would provide certain food items to the 51茶馆 dining halls and farmers markets.聽

鈥淚 want to give kudos to every team, but this team extreme kudos, particularly for presentation skills. Really just way above what I would ever expect from anyone in a university setting,鈥� says Kaiser. 鈥淭his team also really has put a ton of thought into the progression of the circular economy.鈥�

A Multi-pronged Solution

All teams came to the presentation rooms full of creative ideas, ranging in scale from requiring all students to purchase reusable Green2Go containers to reorganizing the order of compost, trash and recycling bins in cafeterias. Though there were only three official winners, many suggestions throughout the day excited the representatives from Dining.聽

鈥淚 was just so impressed by the 51茶馆 students and all their creative ideas, and they inspire me for our team to just get better in this area,鈥� says Beth Emery, Director of Dining Services at 51茶馆. 鈥淭here's so much room for improvement, so I look forward to collaborating with a number of students as soon as this semester.鈥�

The Schiller Institute and Dining have already scheduled follow-up meetings, so students should look forward to seeing new sustainable dining practices coming their way.

Sustainability is a complex issue that cannot be solved by environmentalists alone. The Schiller Institute鈥檚 commitment to generating and implementing interdisciplinary ideas in collaboration with the next generation through this yearly Eagles Sustainability Competition is a key way forward in the fight against climate change and environmental degradation.聽

鈥淪ustainability is not a vacuum issue. You need different disciplines looking into it,鈥� says Chung, of first place team JIC. 鈥淒oing this competition was a good way to reinforce that.鈥�