Sustainability · March 25, 2026
Campus Food-Recovery Program Passes 100,000 Meals Redirected
A student-run program that moves unserved dining-hall food to a community fridge and local shelters has crossed a six-year milestone.
The student-run Campus Food Recovery program has redirected the equivalent of more than 100,000 meals since it began in 2020, moving safe, unserved food from the dining halls and campus catering to a refrigerator in the student union open to anyone, and to two shelters in Porter Falls.
The logistics are handled by about forty volunteers on a rotating schedule, trained in food-safety handling, with dining-services staff packing and labeling the surplus at the end of each service. The program also runs a gleaning partnership with a nearby farm in the fall.
“The food was already paid for and already safe. All we added was a cooler, a spreadsheet, and people willing to carry trays across campus at nine at night.”
— program student coordinator
The program shares its playbook with other campuses and is working with dining services to shrink the surplus at its source through better forecasting.
Contact: Office of University Communications, news@uwporterfalls.edu
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