By Makenna Hall, Staff writer
Students learned about accessibility to sustainable food companies and practices through an Adulting 101 event held by the Center of Academic Achievement on Tuesday, April 10 in Mellon Lounge.
Along with learning that Susquehanna earned a Bronze rating from the American Association for Sustainability in Higher Education last month, students were able to participate in learning how to further their understanding of sustainability.
The Sustainable Foods Fair highlighted ten companies that use sustainable food processes. Amongst these stations were also three local businesses that are involved in eco-friendly practices.
Students could grab a ‘passport’ and visit each booth to learn about the products and to try various samples.
After getting a stamp from each station students became eligible to be entered in a raffle for baskets full of sustainably produced foods. Participants could also prepare their own basil plant to take home and grow.
The main coordinator of the event, sophomore Kara Eckert, generated the idea after hearing about a British company called Snact that uses excess and blemished produce, which would otherwise be thrown away, to make their food products.
“This got me thinking about an event where the entire campus could get a chance to learn about eco-friendly food systems,” Eckert said.
Barnana, one of the highlighted companies at the fair had a similar process to that of Snact, aiming to reduce food waste by creating their products using the bananas that are often discarded due to their imperfections.
According to the Barnana website, farmers lose up to 20 percent of their banana crops because they are the wrong size or color, or because they have scuffs.
Another sustainable practice exhibited at the fair was the reduction of wasteful packaging.
Celestial Seasonings is a tea company that uses tea bags that do not need tags, strings, or individual packaging.
Guayaki, also a tea company, uses tea bags that are compostable and biodegradable. They also practice sustainability in their warehouse where their pallet plastic wrap and the cases used to ship bottles are recyclable.
Guayaki has also created a dissolvable plant based packing peanut.
TerraCycle, who already has a presence on campus, was another company highlighted at the fair. TerraCycle works with companies like Clif Bar and Colgate, as well as individuals, to turn non-recyclable waste into raw materials.
Aside from introducing Susquehanna students to sustainable brands, Eckert said that another goal of the fair was “to connect the [Susquehanna] community with some of the local producers because eating locally is a great way to lead a more sustainable lifestyle.”
Shade Stone Farm is a local business that focuses on producing local meat and produce using eco-friendly methods. The farm also plans on selling syrup, which was sampled at the fair, that they process and bottle with local renewable resources.
Whetstone Kitchen and Dressler’s Farm were the other local businesses represented at the fair. Whetstone Kitchen is a fairly new restaurant in downtown Selinsgrove that buys most of their ingredients from local farms, one of which could be Dressler’s Farm.
Dressler’s Farm is a local farm stand that sells locally grown produces and other products.
Associate Director of Academic Achievement Ginny Larson hopes that the event will be able to take place next year and said, “Hopefully students become aware of businesses who have sustainable efforts. Hopefully, if they are able to, they will support them.”
The sustainability event will be followed by Earth Week events that will culminate in sustainable practices, conservation efforts, and more education on more environmentally friendly policies.
The EcoChallenge is one such event that spans three weeks and encourages participants to complete sustainable practices for points to win prizes and create awareness.
