The United States Environment Protection Agency recently honored seven of New England's colleges and universities for reducing food wastes considerably from the previous years' levels.

Harvard University, Clark University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Suffolk University, Middlebury College, Keene State College, and University of New Hampshire were awarded with Food Recovery Challenge Achievement Awards.

"These New England colleges and universities are setting a great example by preventing more than 2528 tons of food scraps from disposal by using them for higher and better uses, including food donation and composting," said Curt Spalding, regional administrator of EPA's New England office.

EPA's Food Recovery Challenge encourages organizations nationwide to support their communities by feeding unconsumed and excess food to people, instead of dumping them in landfills or incinerators.

When excess food is accumulated in landfills, it decomposes and becomes a source of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that causes climate change.

On the other hand, unsuitable food items can be used as plant fertilizers, and can added to compost bins and anaerobic digestion facilities to produce biogas as well as energy required to generate electricity.

These humble acts could save from environmental footprint and greenhouse gas emissions in the country.

The agency alleges that after paper, disposed food represents the largest volume of waste being generated in the U.S. Most people throw away half of their food items while they are still in a good state, which could otherwise provide nourishment to nearly millions of Americans.

In 2010, more than 14 percent of households in the U.S. did not have a normal access to food to lead an active, healthy life; 34 million tons of food waste was generated and only 3 percent was used in composting.