MSEC

Rethinking food waste

Sarah Jane Silva

MScSM student council hosts top-tier speaker series on sustainable technologies

Organized by the MScSM Student Executive Council (MSEC), last week’s Food Waste & Sustainable Technologies Speaker Series brought in industry professionals, academics, and community members to talk about a concerning global issue - food waste.

Although food insecurity is a growing global economic challenge, food waste is something that everyone has a direct impact on and the potential to influence, said MSEC president Kelsey Koebel.

“We were very fortunate to have three local organizations come in and discuss the sustainable technologies they are implementing to mitigate this problem.”

Speakers from Genecis Inc., Food Provision Coalition, and Lyofresh Technologies talked in depth about the diverse technologies that they are currently developing to solve the food waste issue.

Some intriguing solutions discussed during the speaker series included turning food waste into bioplastics, redefining the freeze-drying process for food preservation, and providing a food waste reduction toolkit to food manufacturers that helps quantify avoidable food waste.

“All the organizations were inspiring and really got the attendees thinking about ways to improve their behaviour when it comes to food,” she said.

Currently in her second year of the MScSM program, Koebel is responsible for representing the best interests of her fellow students.

“I listen to students and their needs and communicate them to our program coordinators to ensure that each student has the opportunity to reach their full academic potential.”

One of Koebel’s main roles is to ensure cross collaboration and engagement between alumni, current students, and the Mississauga community.

She does this with the help of the MSEC team which consists of a VP Internal (Amy Geisberger), VP External (Swinzle Chauhan), VP Social (Carlyle Apps), VP Finance (Martin Wong), and two student representatives from the junior year (Mackenzie Taylor and Spencer Karabelas-Pittman).

“The role of President is very important to me as I have a lot of passion for this program and its ability to provide innovative solutions for a more sustainable world.”