Clarkson University's Efforts

Potsdam Food Waste Generation Audit

Clarkson Graduate Student produces Potsdam Food Waste Generation Audit Report

Maeva Teixeira Machado, a Clarkson University graduate student pursing her Masters in Environment Science and Engineering, produced a report on food waste audits done for the NYSP2I-funded Potsdam FW Management Project. Her work on the audit and report were overseen and reviewed by Drs. Susan Powers (PI) and Jan DeWaters (co-PI).

To view the report, click the report located on the left.

Food Waste Posters at Clarkson's Research and Presentation Showcase

The work that has been done by Clarkson University, especially by students and interns, has had the chance to be showcased to the Clarkson community through Clarkson Research and Presentation Showcases.

Jaymes Suiter ( ChemE '23) and Madeline Rousell ( Brandeis University) presented their poster titled Creating a Sustainable Food Waste Management System for Potsdam NY at the Summer 2021 RAPS

Maeva Teixeira Machado (MS ESE) presented her poster titled Understanding Food Waste Generation in Academic Institutions in Potsdam NY at the Spring 2022 RAPS

Maeva received the Sustainability Prize for Graduate Student Poster Presentation awarded by the ISE

Students in Clarkson’s Sustainability Club recently went door to door on campus to hand out buckets for students in apartments to collect their food waste to increase participation in program.

On-Campus Apartment Food Waste Collection

Clarkson has had an on-campus apartment composting program for a few years. Students who live in on-campus apartments can get a green bin from the Institute for a Sustainable Environment (ISE) to collect food waste in. Once the green bins are full, there are a food waste collection totes located by each of the apartment complexes for students to discard their food waste. In the past, ISE faculty have taken the food waste collected to their personal compost piles. However, Clarkson has recently partnered with Whitten Family Farm who will be collecting the food waste from apartments in addition to post-consumer food waste from dining halls.

Food Waste Collection in Clarkson University Dining Halls

Now that Clarkson University has partnered with Whitten Family Farm it has been able to expand its post-consumer food waste collection. Starting in April, post-consumer food waste from the Servery (one of the on-campus dining halls) has been collected and picked up by the local composting facility.

The food waste collection system at Servery was not possible without educating the Clarkson students who were diverting their food waste. Interns for the Institute for a Sustainable Environment worked to create educational resources as well as stood by the collection area to inform students about the new program and what can and cannot be composted.

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