Approval of Previous Minutes —

Approval of minutes from Nov 18, 2025: Vince motions to approve. Camile seconds. Minutes approved without objections. 

Guest Speaker Presentation —

Lindsay Robinson, Dining Director of KU Dining presents along with Cameron Lauer, Ex-officio member and Director of Custodial Services 

The committee has thought about various methods to reduce waste (e.g., composting, possible reusable systems, recycling, incentive programs, food options, and using waste/trash collection rooms in residence halls for composting).

Cameron answers a committee member’s questions about trash collection: 

All of Wescoe Beach is the 3rd shift: 

• After 12:30am Sat morning, there is not anyone on campus due to the budget. We can't have trash pickup over the weekend. It starts back at 10:30pm on Sunday. 
• May see overflow depending on the events over the weekend. 
• Trying to explore different options of what's possible. There are some areas that are much more traveled than others. Others get very little usage except for events. 
• Operations in general was cut by 4.1 million. Some facilities crews are being moved over to Housing due to budget. 
• Doing the best we can but have needed to minimize. 
• A committee member asks if environmental ambassadors could help to reduce trash and if this would be feasible. Ambassadors can limit the contamination.

KU has small crew in which trying to make as efficient as possible. 

• The landfill trash and recycling trash go through a trash/recycling "sort". 

• K State has an ambassador program and "Zero Waste" program. The engineering complex is different at K State, however. It comes down to funding - we want to do these things, but we don't have the funding for it. 

• KU is investing in biodegradable trash bags and biodegradable nitrile gloves. Also changing to reusable bottles - doing what we can with what we have.
• Our main source of funding for recycling : 75% student fees and 25% State funds. 
• Custodial is in a "reactionary" phase. Trying to lessen contamination. Wescoe has different recycling needs than KU Dining. 
• Recycling containers are being specified to the buildings we're trying to service. More specified recycling in housing would be helpful. 
• Signage wouldn't be that expensive but the training is expensive. If things are contaminated, we can't use – so “education”  is a large part. 

The Green New Deal - the Dining Halls would need to be a big part of composting. 

Increasing the amount of pickup and staffing would be helpful but it needs to be intentional so it would not just increase the number of employees in that area but also the services we provide. 

Lindsay: Agrees about education and funding. Composting is not out of the picture, but don't have the funding right now – therefore KU Dining is trying to promote through graphics, social media, incentives, and awareness weeks. 

"Taste to Try" initiative: to encourage a taste instead of committing to a whole plate. this includes personal staff dining and portion control. Training our own staff on portion control to reduce waste. 

Moving to an upgraded new food service platform. This new program tracks waste and helps to reduce over-purchasing. 

Partnership with Just Foods - any food that is perishable or going to expire soon, Just Foods comes and picks it up. 

Future initiatives:

• Loffredo is our Produce Distributor. We have a competition coming up using food products to make beverages. Also taking produce and doing “Root to Flower”. Loffredo’s is helping us with this - How can we be creative and reduce waste? 
• Sysco: Prime Vendor: launching eco-friendly product assortments and supporting sustainable beef. 
• MCURC Membership: The Menus of Change University Research Collaborative. This is a group of universities with the goal of initiating new insights and develop innovative solutions to serve healthy, eco-friendly food. 

Composting? If Student Senate is interested, and if they could increase the funding for it -- the University would need to designate a space on campus for this. There are a lot of logistics - we'd need to maintain, rotate, and keep eye on it and currently we don't have the staff to provide this service. Unless we have designated staff - this is a "process".

How can the committee help "spread the word" of the initiatives and the challenges. 

Vince is in social media and knows many in student services communications - are there ways for the committee to connect to faculty and researchers. There is the KU Field Station or the Biodiversity Institute. 

It really comes down to the logistics - if it's more of a community effort, it has much greater chance of being successful. 

"Talking Points" - as a campus we have a responsibility to expand this view out - we have the ability to affect the number of plastics and microplastics. Biodegradable to good start and biodegradable gloves -- trying to keep things out of there and keep out of bloodstream. 

Lindsay would be happy to do research - repackaging foods has State requirements. However, anything that doesn't touch a line, we do give to Just Foods. Donated 8000 pounds of food last school year. 

Is Funding and Education the main obstacles? 

On Custodial side, have needed to try and be as efficient as possible. 

Custodial Services now has a Disinfection Regeneration machine - a safe bleach which is sustainable. It has paid for itself four times over. Being able to produce on-site has been so helpful. Being self-sufficient on-site is a big part of evolution going forward. 

This needs to be a team lift. We need to put "action items" into the process. 

New Business —

The committee plans to meet monthly in 2026. 

Draft minutes for approval in Jan 2026