Volunteers donned aprons and plastic gloves and ventured to a place few students have ever been: the kitchen behind the De Neve Commons dining hall.
The students were conducting the “Waste Watchers” program, which sought to measure how much waste De Neve Commons dining hall produced in one full day.
By 5 p.m., that number had reached 405 pounds, with the bulk of the waste coming from the lunch hours.
“Waste Watchers” is the brainchild of second-year political science and English student Alisa Ahmadian, second-year geography student Lauren Sullivan, and second-year anthropology student Heidi Winner.
The students said they were prompted by the release of the College Sustainability Report Card, which gave UCLA a B in food and recycling.
“I’d always noticed the waste in the dining hall, and after the report I wanted to see what (earned) UCLA its grade,” Ahmadian said.
The students stayed in the dining hall all 10 hours of operation Tuesday, scraping excess food into trash cans and measuring the amount of waste produced.
Ahmadian added that the measuring did not include liquids (with the exception of soup), natural food waste such as banana peels and apple cores, and paper waste.
By 8 p.m., after 3,793 diners had passed through the dining hall, the final weigh-in revealed 670 pounds of waste.
Winner said workers in the dining hall were happy to have “Waste Watchers” conduct their study.
“I was expecting to be shut down by (dining officials) but they were excited to have us because students never see the waste they produce,” Winner said.
Winner added that the final report did not seek to condemn the dining halls, but instead sought to notify students how much they are wasting each day.
Ahmadian said some students show indifference toward the food from the dining halls, which leads to excess waste.
“I’ve seen my friends waste in the dining halls, and they say they can do what they like with the food because they’re paying for it,” Ahmadian said.
She added that since the dining halls are nonprofit and send leftover funds back to the kitchen, the quality of food would improve if waste was reduced.
“If the money lost from waste went into creating higher quality, organic options, students might have less reason to complain about the food,” she said.
Ahmadian, Sullivan and Winner were assisted by around 50 volunteers throughout the day. Winner said the volunteers primarily came from the campus organizations E3 and Environmental Bruins, as well as the class Environment 185, which features lectures from environmental experts.
Christie Phan, a third-year political science student, said she volunteered at the event to see firsthand how much waste is produced.
“There’s more trash than I ever imagined here,” Phan said, adding that her job of scraping waste was getting “hectic” around peak hours.
Other volunteers, such as second-year political science student Tania Shakoori, said they knew what it was like not to want everything on their plates.
“I hope the results of (Waste Watchers) is a news flash to students on the impact of throwing away only a little bit of food,” Shakoori said.
Ahmadian said the two most wasted foods were pizza and eggs, possibly because many breakfast entrees come with eggs.
Winner said when the full report is released, the volunteers will post suggestions throughout campus on how to reduce waste.
“Some steps that students can take include using one plate or glass for everything, using less napkins, and making smaller portions when possible,” she said.