ISTC is proud to be a 2024 Food Waste Prevention Week Partner

Proud to be a Food Waste Prevention Week Partner, April 1-7, 2024

Mark your calendars for Food Waste Prevention Week, scheduled to take place April 1-7 this year. 

In 2019 alone, EPA estimates that about 66 million tons of wasted food were generated in the food retail, food service, and residential sectors, and most of this waste (about 60%) was sent to landfills.  Food Waste Prevention Week is a collaborative effort to raise awareness about food waste and its negative impacts on our society and environment, while also sharing resources to help individuals, families, and organizations reduce their own food waste. Because its Technical Assistance Program (TAP) has experience working on food waste reduction and management projects, the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center is proud to be a partner organization for Food Waste Prevention Week for the second year in a row!

Be sure to check ISTC’s social media platforms during April 1-7, as we highlight some of the past and present work TAP is doing related to food waste, as well as facts and resources to help you on your food waste reduction journey. If you’re not already following us on social media, you can connect with us on:

Throughout the week, several partners across the U.S. will host webinars to inspire action to reduce food waste. For example:

  • Closing the Loop. On Monday, April 1, at noon Central, join an informative discussion on what food waste generators can do to sustainably process their waste via on- and off-site composting, biodigesters, anaerobic digesters, etc. Register here.
  • Harnessing the Power of Food Preferences for Overproduction Reduction. Unveil how individual eating preferences can be a game-changer in minimizing food waste in food services. Learn how culinary IDs are the key to precise production while offering diners a better, personalized experience at scale. This webinar will be on April 1 from 1-1:50 PM Central time. Register here.
  • USDA Programs, Investments, and Innovations to Prevent and Reduce Food Loss and Waste. On April 2, from 11 AM to noon Central, join Dr. Jean Buzby (USDA Food Loss and Waste Liaison) and a panel of leaders from across USDA (NIFA, OUAIP, FNS, and ARS) to learn about some of the ways the agency engages in food loss and waste prevention and reduction across the U.S. food supply chain. Register here.
  • Gleaning: Reduce Loss & Waste at the Farm. On April 3 from 3-3:50 PM Central, join the Society of St. Andrew’s experts on gleaning and learn about its impact. They will discuss the benefits of gleaning crops for farmers, local hunger relief agencies, and volunteers alike, the impact of SoSA’s work over 40+ years, and ways to get involved in your locale. Register here.
  • Food Production and Sustainability. This thought-provoking panel discussion of industry experts will explore the industrial perspective of the fight against food waste and share strategies for implementing sustainability without compromising operational effectiveness. Join the discussion April 4th from 10-10:50 AM CDT. Register here.
  • From Food Scraps to Soil Food: Starting a Drop-Off Program in Your Community.​ Learn how East Hampton Compost is growing awareness of food waste, diverting scraps from the waste stream and enriching local soils. A collaboration between ReWild Long Island and the Town of East Hampton, with local high school students staffing drop-off locations and working on outreach. Dive into the dirt to gain valuable insights into the challenges and rewards of piloting an all-volunteer initiative, as well as actionable strategies for starting one in your community. This webinar will be on April 4 from 2-2:50 PM. Register here.

See the Food Waste Prevention Week “Webinars” page for additional webinars scheduled for Food Waste Prevention Week, and learn more about other ways you can get involved at https://www.foodwastepreventionweek.com/get-involved.

ISTC Technical Assistance Program launches new webpages

TAP homepage

The Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) Technical Assistance Program (TAP) has a new web presence. You may now find information on TAP at https://go.illinois.edu/techassist.

TAP makes companies and communities more competitive and resilient with sustainable business practices, technologies, and solutions. TAP works at the intersection of industry, science, and government to help organizations achieve profitable, sustainable results.

The new website makes it easier to find information on TAP programs, services, and projects. Visitors can sign up for free site visits or learn about fee-for-service opportunities to engage our sustainability experts. Any Illinois organization, business, manufacturing facility, institute of higher learning, government entity, public utility, or institution may request one free site visit (per location) at no cost to the facility.

General inquiries may be addressed to istc-info@illinois.edu. You may also reach out to specific TAP team members for assistance in their areas of expertise.

New Illinois Sustainability Awards case study: Hilton Chicago

ISTC’s latest case study features 2017 Illinois Sustainability Award winner Hilton Chicago.  The hotel, built in 1927 as the Stevens Hotel, was originally the largest hotel in the world. Now with over 1,544 guest rooms and over 1,000 Team Members, it remains one of the largest hotels in Illinois. The hotel has a long history in Chicago, holding a variety of major events and hosting visits from every past U.S. President since Calvin Coolidge. In 2015, over 1.6 million guests came through the doors of Hilton Chicago.

The hotel provides service to individuals and large groups who consume a wide variety of products and a great amount of energy. In addition to guest rooms, the hotel currently has 235,000 square feet of meeting space, three ballrooms, and 100,000 square feet of exhibition space.

Hilton Chicago uses a wide variety of sustainable practices to manage the 90-year old property. They include:

  • A food composting program, which began in 2010, that sends food scraps from guest plates, buffets, and kitchen prep to a commercial composting service;
  • A hotel-wide recycling program for paper, plastic, and aluminum. The hotel also furnishes recycling bags for use in guest rooms that are labeled with acceptable and non-acceptable items. The practice was shared with other Hilton properties and is now used by the Palmer House, the Drake, and the San Diego Hilton;
  • A glass recycling program that separates glass from co-mingled materials and is sent to a glass recycler monthly. They also recycle electronic waste, bulbs and batteries, ink jet and toner cartridges, and cardboard.
  • Installing LED light bulbs and fixtures in all meeting spaces and guest rooms.
  • Installing new water conserving fixtures in guest rooms. These include new faucet aerators in bathroom sinks, low flow shower heads, and toilet
    flushometers.
  • After completing guest room renovations, the hotel donated all of the furniture from over 600 guest rooms, rather than sell the unneeded furniture to a liquidation company. The furniture went to a local organization called Catholic Charities, which focuses on providing food, clothing, shelter, and counseling to Chicago residents in need. The charity’s St. Leo Campus for Veterans, which received the bulk of the donation, offers 141 single-room occupancy apartments for veterans that were formerly homeless and now work with a case manager to become self-sufficient. The remaining furniture went to 52 additional housing sites.

Hilton Chicago’s actions have resulted in:

  • 265 tons material diverted from landfills
  • 5.8 million gallons of water conserved annually
  • 600 hotel rooms of furniture and artwork donated