| Overall Rating | Silver |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 56.94 |
| Liaison | Scott Morgan |
| Submission Date | Dec. 21, 2023 |
Evergreen State College, The
OP-8: Sustainable Dining
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.00 / 2.00 |
Emma
Wright Graduate Sustainability Fellow Office of Sustainability |
Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor host a farmers market, community supported agriculture (CSA) or fishery program, or urban agriculture project, or support such a program in the local community?:
A brief description of the farmers market, CSA or urban agriculture project:
Organic Farm
The Organic Farm at Evergreen runs a farm stand operated by the students in the central campus square throughout the growing season. The farm stand sells local and organic produce grown and cared for by students of the Practice of Sustainable Agriculture programs. Proceeds from the farm go directly to facilitate the growing of more produce.
Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor host a sustainability-themed food outlet on-site, either independently or in partnership with a contractor or retailer?:
A brief description of the sustainability-themed food outlet:
Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor support disadvantaged businesses, social enterprises, and/or local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through its food and beverage purchasing?:
A brief description of the support for disadvantaged businesses, social enterprises, and/or local SMEs:
Approximately 19 percent of Aramark (Evergreen's dining services contractor) food and beverage purchasing expenses are directed towards local small farmers and other local small or medium enterprises.
Estimated percentage of total food and beverage expenditures on products from disadvantaged businesses, social enterprises, and/or local SMEs:
Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor host low impact dining events or promote plant-forward options?:
A brief description of the low impact dining events and/or plant-forward options:
Aramark holds Less-meat Mondays in the Greenery campus dining commons, as well as a pop-up salad bar which occasionally features greens grown within the dining commons itself.
Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor have a vegan dining program that makes diverse, complete-protein vegan options available to every member of the campus community at every meal?:
A brief description of the vegan dining program:
Campus Dining Services offers vegan options at every meal in the cafeteria. Many of our food items can also be made vegan by on-site chefs at the customer’s request.
Link:
https://evergreen.campusdish.com/LocationsAndMenus/The-Greenery
Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor inform customers about low impact food choices and sustainability practices through labelling and signage in dining halls?:
A brief description of the sustainability labelling and signage in dining halls:
Signage indicating Real Food Challenge goals and outcomes is displayed in the campus dining hall. Additionally, there are chalkboards that detail food waste measures and practices. Evergreen participates in Green Monday and uses signage from that campaign. "Plant Forward" logos are prominently displayed on menu items that contain no meat or animal products.
Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor participate in a competition or commitment program and/or use a food waste prevention system to track and improve its food management practices?:
A brief description of the food recovery competition or commitment program or food waste prevention system:
"Enable" tablet software is currently used in the dining commons to track and monitor food waste.
Has the institution or its primary dining services contractor implemented trayless dining (in which trays are removed from or not available in dining halls) and/or modified menus/portions to reduce post-consumer food waste?:
A brief description of the trayless dining or modified menu/portion program:
Dining Services has been trayless since 2010. Trayless dining minimizes food waste, conserves energy and water, and reduces the amount of cleaning chemicals entering the waste stream. Nearly all materials provided in the main dining hall are either reusable or compostable, so all waste receptacles are organic wastes only.
Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor donate food that would otherwise go to waste to feed people?:
A brief description of the food donation program:
Taken from Campus Dining "Environmental Sustainability" webpage: https://evergreen.campusdish.com/Sustainability/WhatWeAreDoing.aspx
"We are committed to reducing food waste and identifying alternatives for food surplus. Our Food Management Fundamentals provides tools to reduce food surplus through source reduction and internal usage, but there is still a need for an environmentally and socially responsible alternative for disposing edible food waste. Our solution is a Food Donation Program that Dining Services instituted in fall 2012. We donate excess food from Campus Dining Catering, The MarketPlace and The Greenery to the Thurston County Food Bank on a weekly basis. We donate about 30 to 40 pounds of food per week."
Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor divert food materials from the landfill, incinerator or sewer for animal feed or industrial uses?:
A brief description of the food materials diversion program:
Taken from Campus Dining "Environmental Sustainability" webpage: https://evergreen.campusdish.com/Sustainability/WhatWeAreDoing.aspx
Both pre- and post-consumer food waste is diverted for composting. Used Fryer Oil is sold to regional bio-diesel producers.
"One hundred percent of dining services used fryer oil is recycled by Encore. We average 150 gallons per week which equates to 104 gallons of biodiesel."
Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor have a pre-consumer composting program?:
A brief description of the pre-consumer composting program:
All food waste is collected in the food service areas on campus for delivery to a regional composting facility. Pre-consumer food waste is specifically sorted and collected in the back kitchens.
Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor have a post-consumer composting program?:
A brief description of the post-consumer composting program:
Bins for collection of food scraps are built in or present at all campus food service locations on campus.
Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor utilize reusable service ware for “dine in” meals?:
A brief description of the reusable service ware program:
Re-usable service ware is standard in the cafeteria and compostable disposable paper products are used in the carry out food service. Due to the fact that many plastic/PLA items marketed as "compostable" have been found not to be, Evergreen no longer uses those items.
Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor provide reusable and/or third party certified compostable containers and service ware for “to-go” meals (in conjunction with an on-site composting program)?:
A brief description of the compostable containers and service ware:
Re-usable to-go containers are available in the main cafeteria for on-campus dining.
Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor offer discounts or other incentives to customers who use reusable containers instead of disposable or compostable containers in “to-go” food service operations?:
A brief description of the reusable container discount or incentives program:
Evergreen's dining commons implements a "swap-out" system for to-go containers, where students need only purchase a container once. Students can then bring their used to-go container back to the dining commons at the time of their next meal, and swap it out for a clean container free of charge. The dining commons handles the washing, cleaning, and re-stocking of used to-go containers.
A brief description of other sustainability-related initiatives not covered above:
The food service website includes health and wellness education, resources, and planning tools. Evergreen's Wellness Committee also provides annual events and resource fairs focused on healthy eating habits.
Website URL where information about the sustainable dining programs is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.