CORE Crew Flashes Food Waste Statistics
Emily Cobb | February 2, 2023
Many things at Warren Wilson College (WWC) could be labeled as WWC-core, but perhaps the CORE Crew demonstration that occurred on Jan. 24 was one of the more WWC-core events.
The crew could be both seen and heard in Gladfelter as most of the work crew burst into the cafeteria. The chants of the crew, a horned instrument blaring and the large number of crew members dispersing throughout the cafeteria — even upstairs — brought everyone's attention to them.
The CORE Crew is one of the various work crews around campus and runs the free store, as well as the college composting operation. They take the excess food from buildings around campus including the cafeterias and then, they turn the waste into dirt for the college to use in the garden and landscaping areas.
Allison Lienemann is a first-year at WWC and has been on the CORE Crew since her first semester. She participated during the demonstration by holding one of the banners that she helped make beforehand.
“There's a great crew atmosphere and I like doing meaningful work on campus,” Lienemann said about being on the crew.
The demonstration consisted of first-years Ilya Andreyev and Priscilla Wadlington announcing the CORE composting statistics from the fall 2022 semester.
“We just wanted a way to put out the word of all the food waste numbers on campus in a way that wasn't just an email — in a way that was kind of fun,” Lienemann said.
The statistics in the speech contained the altogether combined food waste on campus — which added up to 37,782 pounds. They compared this amount to the equivalent of composting eight Public Safety 2022 Nissan Frontier pickup trucks.
“I think it's pretty insane,” Lienemann said. “Especially to think that we're such a small college. But I think that I'd much rather have that food composted than it go to waste. So I think there are obviously things we can be doing better.”
The CORE Crew then further broke down the statistics. The amount of kitchen waste from Gladfelter was 19,470 pounds, and an additional 8,760 pounds from students. The total for Cowpie kitchen was 3,105 pounds, the students' waste adding up to 2,096 pounds. The food waste from the school's other buildings was 3,260 lbs.
“We didn’t want it to be a nuisance to people and not like we were blaming people for their food waste,” Lienemann said. “We just wanted to bring attention to it, not passing blame on anyone.”
Follow the CORE Crew on Instagram and Tiktok @wwc_core.