Despite best efforts, food pantries do produce food waste. This can be from produce going bad before it can be distributed, personal preferences leading to certain foods not being distributed, or donated food being too close to spoilage, etc. This 21 page report investigates the issue of food waste at the Mount Carmel Area Food Pantry run by the Mount Carmel Area Ministerium and proposes composting as a solution. Composting will reduce the amount of garbage going to the landfill and keep the nutrients in the community by providing compost for home or community gardening, which can be part of a broader food security network.
Students produced this report as part of Environmental Studies 411 (ENST 411), a senior capstone course taught by Prof. Andrew Stuhl.
Funding to install the demonstration compost systems referenced in the report was provided by the Ekedahl fund through the Bucknell Center for Sustainability and the Environment
