With thousands of hungry students to feed every day, Don DeGruttola, General Manager of Food Services, knows a thing of two about sustainability. As a member of the CCSU Sustainability Council, DeGruttola is always looking for new ways to ensure that the least amount of food goes to waste as possible.
“Food waste is a major problem on all campus dining facilities where there are unlimited servings,” he said. “It's an incredible waste of energy to select a hamburger and take one bite out of it before discarding it onto the conveyor belt. Think of the water that had to be used to nurture the beef, the grain that was grown to feed it, the shipping fuel used to transport, keep frozen and cook it.”
Along with educating students on portion sizes and providing fresher foods, Dining Services has also recently closed an entire dish room in Memorial Hall. DeGruttola estimates that about one million gallons of water will be saved.
In addition to looking for ways to help Central become more environmentally sustainable, DeGruttola also keeps an open mind when it comes to student opinions on what Dining Services offers.
“We have comment cards available at all retail operations and in Memorial Hall. There are bi-weekly open meetings where students regularly talk about food issues, we do formal paper surveys and managers are trained to listen to customer feedback and bring the information to management meetings for discussion,” he said. “One can always approach a manager or stop by our offices to discuss any food issues as well.”
Having to accommodate thousands of hungry CCSU students is a daunting task, but DeGruttola handles it well.
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