Catering Leftovers

Massachusetts generates over 1 million tons of food waste each year, which is 25% of overall waste in the Commonwealth. At the same time, Massachusetts also has experienced surges in household food insecurity rising from 8.2% before the pandemic to 19.5% of households food insecure at its peak in Massachusetts. BU Dining is eager to develop a plan to respond to a change in Massachusetts regulations governing commercial food waste that requires facilities who generate more than one-half ton of food and other organic wastes per week to develop a composting program to eliminate waste. Catered events can generate a significant amount of wasted food. BU Dining is seeking a solution to give this (perfectly good) food away to students before resorting to composting. The challenge is that the food can only be given away within a set amount of time before it is subject to health and safety regulations. The BU Dining Leftover Food Website aims to solve the problem of redistributing leftover food from catering within these time constraints. This website is a fully functional, admin-facing platform that enables staff to efficiently log and post leftover food from catered events. Link to current web platform: https://bu-sustainability-leftovers.netlify.app/ Current core features: • Sign up and create profile • See FAQs • See events • Admin view by entering an admin token • Allow Admin to post events Following the initial launch, the web app’s functionality has been validated, and the team is now preparing to expand to the app store with the goal of making the platform accessible to the entire BU community.