Currently, the Campus Pantry program sees approximately 2,408 users per week and distributes an average of 4,836 pounds of food daily. Through the Campus Pantry Reusable Bags project, they will aim to promote more sustainable methods for transporting one’s food. To accomplish this, they will provide those who visit the U of A Campus Pantry with a reusable tote bag upon request to carry the food they receive from the Campus Pantry. The project will promote sustainability and the awareness to decrease single use plastic bags being used. Those who are provided with a reusable bag will in turn also learn about the sustainable benefits of using reusable bags in their personal life.
Through this project, over 1080 reusable bags were distributed to Campus Pantry users. Through their nine tabling events, the team successfully educated and interacted with a total of 1082 students, faculty and staff members.
Campus Pantry partnered with Students for Sustainability to help educate users on the benefits of using reusable bags over single-use ones. In each bag, a small info flyer displaying the impacts of reusable bags was placed.
The team continued to host tabling events throughout the spring semester to continue educating users on sustainability practices. Volunteers tabled at both the main Campus Pantry location at the Student Union Memorial Center as well as the secondary location at UAHS to expand outreach and make sure that all of users were able to receive a bag.
Campus Pantry will continue to encourage the adoption of sustainable habits to their patrons for semesters to come!
