Clarkson University Receives a Grant to Expand Its Food Waste Program
Clarkson University has received a $20,000 grant to expand the food waste program that the university hosts. Constellation, an Exelon Company, awarded Clarkson University the grant to continue their current partnership with Canton Central School. This grant will also enable the University to expand its partnership to a new group of students.
“Thanks to a dedicated group of Clarkson and CCS students and staff, we’ve been able to treat cafeteria food waste for the last three years, bringing it to our nearby anaerobic digester located at the Cornell Cooperative Extension Farm in Canton, NY. Since we started, we’ve treated nearly 16 tons of food waste, generating the equivalent of about 20,600 kWh of energy,” says Grimberg. “This year, our program will expand to engage Clarkson students in a campus resource recovery project using our anaerobic digester on campus.”
What Will the Grant Funds Go Toward?
The project the grant will help is Food-to-Energy, Forging New Partnerships: Promoting Resource Recovery in Schools and Community to Make a Lasting Impact. The project will be led by Jan DeWaters, the professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Stefan Grimberg, the associate professor of Engineering and the Institute for STEM Education. Specifically, the program works to turn food waste into clean energy. Clarkson students will be in charge of administering educational materials for Canton Central School and Heuvelton Central High School.
“This year, we are excited to engage the Clarkson community in a food waste collection system for the newly relocated campus digester,” adds DeWaters. “Our students will leverage the excellent materials produced by last year’s group to educate the Clarkson community about food waste and resource recovery.” Clarkson students will also help to oversee the operation of the food waste digester. They will work with Grimberg and DeWaters to analyze food waste disposal options and explore sustainable food waste treatment”.
GrantWatch has similar grants available to U.S. and territories nonprofits, local and state governments, hospitals, and institutions of higher education. These grants are for research projects to reduce food waste in household settings.
How food waste programs can benefit our world
According to the publication FoodPrint, the United States wastes about 125 to 160 billion pounds of food each year.
In addition, the EPA has an entire page on how reducing food waste can benefit our environment. Waste programs can involve all kinds of things, like
- Turning food waste into fertilizer
- Converting food waste into energy
- Or re-purposing food that can’t be sold
GrantNews Notes
Are you looking for more grants like the one awarded here? GrantWatch has an entire category for environmental grants. This category specifically includes grants to combat climate change, protect and conserve the environment, among other initiatives. GrantWatch also has a category for grants relating to nutrition.
Also, make sure to sign up for a paid subscription to GrantWantch! Paid subscribers can gain access to all of our tools and resources for grant seekers!