Save Food MFU in Collaboration with FAO
The campaign to promote the awareness and to reduce food waste on the campus is at the heart of the collaboration between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and MFU. However, unlike the campaign to reduce throw-away bags, there was no baseline data on food waste at MFU. Therefore, prior to the campaign research was carried out to determine the extent of and reasons behind food waste generation.
At all food centers on the campus, customers were required to return plates and bowls to the designated tables. The baseline data were collected by taking pictures of plates and bowls returned at the tables for visual analysis of food waste generation. At the same time, a campaign was conducted starting with the How to Live and Learn on Campus 2014 (HLLC), 10-21 August. The candidates of MFU Star’s Got Talent helped promoting the awareness of the food waste on the campus to fellow new students. They observed and discussed with the research team that collected the data on food waste. Overall, they remarked that most of MFU students could finish their dishes.
In addition, a group of students from the course, Citizenship and Contemporary Politics (1001205), had to choose a campaign on the campus for their course project. One group chose the topic of food waste and worked with the campaign team and the course instructor, Chalongrat Charoensri. They created posters to raise the awareness on the issue and to interact with eaters at food centers to find the reasons behind food waste. The students found that the main reasons for the food waste were to be 1) it tasted bad; 2) too much rice was given; and 3) the liquid part of the dish could not be finished. The student’s pilot campaign gave invaluable lessons for the design of the main campaign scheduled in November.