According to the United States Department of Agriculture, 96 billion pounds of food are wasted every year in the United States and cost the nation more than $1 billion annually. With only 25 percent of the wasted food, 20 million people could be fed adequately for one year, and twice as much food is prepared per person than is needed in the U.S.

The food-wasting mentality starts at home. Many people throw away unused food in fear it has spoiled and will leave an eater feeling the wrath for several days after. I can’t bring myself to use food items after their “sell by” date. And the wasting in cafeterias begins all the way in elementary schools, where lunch ladies serve up gross representations of cuisine to kids who hardly could bring themselves to eat normal food, leaving heaps of uneaten meals in the trash.

MSU cafeterias are no exception. It is hard to tell how much food is needed for students on a daily basis, and large quantities have to be prepared. But the university can’t do a lot about that. Students pay for unlimited meal plans and need to be provided with lots of food. But there are a few things the university could do to help the students on campus be more conscious of how they consume their food.

The first step would be to limit the amount of food students look to take every day. With mandatory unlimited meal plans, students have free reign to get food whenever they want, leaving very little thought to how much they’re consuming. Limited meal plans will force students to think about what they take and how often.

Currently, on-campus students pay huge amounts of money for meal plans, and very few will get their money’s worth by the end of the semester, even without wasting food. MSU should think about allowing more than one takeout option a day. Students are scolded when taking food out of the cafeteria, but with the food limited to a box, less is likely to be wasted. Not to mention the fact that limiting meal plans could allow the food service to get a better idea of how much food to prepare and not provide a gross overestimate of food.

Although the university continually is progressing in its food quality, offering fewer options, making them better, tastier meals also could lead to less food waste. More palatable food would lead to students taking less and eating more on a plate. With so many possible options that will make students say “yuck,” people are bound to take more than they will eat and leave what they don’t want.

A plan given thought and trial by MSU, which should garner more consideration by students, is the trayless option. Not having a tray reduces the amount people take and again forces the students to really think about what they want to ensure they eat a majority of the food.

No matter what steps are taken to limit the amount of excess food, there will always be some uneaten food at the end of meals. With MSU being a large agricultural university, one solution to the food left on plates at the end of the day is obvious: composting. Some food is biodegradable and can offer plants — not just humans — large amounts of nutrition.

It’s unlikely that every bit of unconsumed food can be placed in compost piles, but at least a good chunk of it can. And if the university does any compost work with leftover cafeteria food, why isn’t it more widely publicized? I think reusing unused food is a neat option that is worth some thought.

There are a lot of times I don’t finish a meal, either because I’m full or don’t like an item. But one of my least favorite sayings is “some hungry child could have eaten that.” No, they couldn’t have; how would they get it? But I do, however, hate to see food wasted and the money that could have been saved. If MSU can limit food waste, the university — and students — can save money and use the funds elsewhere.

Most people are more conscious nowadays when it comes to being green. An easy step is limiting the amount of food wasted every meal. Just some food for thought.

Pat Evans is the State News opinion writer. Reach him at evanspa7@msu.edu.