Overall Rating	Gold
Overall Score	79.37
Liaison	Jillian Leach
Submission Date	March 4, 2022

STARS v2.2

California State University, Chico
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

Status	Score	Responsible Party
	2.00 / 2.00	Gregory Wiggins Climate & Energy Analyst Facilities Management & Services

"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1. Sustainable dining initiatives

Local community engagement

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?:

Yes

A brief description of the farmers market, CSA or urban agriculture project:

Half the produce grown on the University Farm's Organic Vegetable 3-acre plot is sold to 25 campus community members through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program.

Sustainability-themed outlet

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?:

Yes

A brief description of the sustainability-themed food outlet:

"Urban Roots" - the Associated Students devotes a space in the BMU to a convenience store with grab-and-go food items, prepared by A.S. Dining, that fit what students consider to be “real food” or “whole food.” Prepackaged products come from manufacturers that are local and/or committed to sustainability. Fresh salads, sandwiches and wraps contain as many local ingredients as possible. Urban Roots opened in the Student Union building in Spring of 2017.

Inclusive and local sourcing

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:

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Estimated percentage of total food and beverage expenditures on products from disadvantaged businesses, social enterprises, and/or local SMEs:

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Low-impact dining

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor host low impact dining events or promote plant-forward options?:

Yes

A brief description of the low impact dining events and/or plant-forward options:

Sutter Dining Hall hosts an annual "Bug Night", an insect-based "entomophagy" meal to highlight the reduced environmental impact of insects as a protein source instead of beef or other traditional animal based proteins.

Vegan dining program

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?:

Yes

A brief description of the vegan dining program:

There are daily vegan options at Sutter Dining Hall, where on campus residents eat, as well as a dedicated vegan station called Plant Base. Vegan options, including sushi, salads, and wraps are available in our C-store outlets. Meals are often Vegan-centric, with animal proteins available as an add-on.

Labelling and signage

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?:

Yes

A brief description of the sustainability labelling and signage in dining halls:

Sutter Dining Hall is located in LEED-certified residence hall: the Dining Area, as does the rest of the building, includes a significant amount of signage highlighting the green building and maintenance features that contributed to the certification. The Student Union Marketplace and two smaller food marts on campus feature signage and labeling highlighting various real food options and sustainable features of products ("v" for vegan), such as fair trade certified coffee and free range meat products.

Part 2. Food waste minimization and recovery

Food recovery program

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?:

Yes

A brief description of the food recovery competition or commitment program or food waste prevention system:

During the annual residence hall move-out waste diversion program, "Diversion Excursion," some 5,000 lbs of food goods are collected and donated to the Wildcat Food Pantry.

The CSU participates in diverting commercial and post-consumer food waste from landfills and incinerators through its Organic Recycling program. It also is mandated to report annually the amount of food waste generated and types of programming focused on minimizing the amount of organic waste generated on site to the CalRecycle State Agency Reporting Center (SARC), per AB 1826 Solid Waste: Organic Recycling.

For AB 1826 Bill Text and more information, please visit: http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB1826&search_keywords

The California State University Sustainability Policy (https://calstate.policystat.com/policy/6987526/latest/) states under Part H. Sustainable Food Service: “All campus food service organizations should track their sustainable food purchases. Such tracking and reporting will be grounded in the Real Food Challenge guidelines, or equivalent, with consideration to campus requested improvements. Campuses shall strive to increase their sustainable food purchases to 20 percent of total food budget by 2020.
Campuses and food service organizations shall collaborate to provide information and/or training on sustainable food service operations to staff and patrons.”

Trayless dining and portion modifications

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?:

Yes

A brief description of the trayless dining or modified menu/portion program:

Sutter Dining Hall, where most on-campus residents (2,200+) eat, is an all-you-can-eat-per-swipe, totally trayless dining facility.

Food donation

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor donate food that would otherwise go to waste to feed people?:

Yes

A brief description of the food donation program:

Excess food from Associated Students Catering events is made available to students for a limited time once the event has ended. This program was established a few years ago and has been through a successful trial period. Various notification systems alert students to the availability of the food, location and time. Prepared Foods (i.e. sandwiches, salads, fruit cups, and wraps), made for our retail operations, are donated at closing, Friday afternoons, to our Campus Food Pantry.

Food materials diversion

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor divert food materials from the landfill, incinerator or sewer for animal feed or industrial uses?:

Yes

A brief description of the food materials diversion program:

Used cooking oil from the Student Union Marketplace is collected and picked up by a biodiesel manufacturer.

Composting

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor have a pre-consumer composting program?:

Yes

A brief description of the pre-consumer composting program:

All food that is not used in final product at Residential Dining Sutter Hall and the Student Union Marketplace is collected and picked up by Recology and taken to a local anaerobic digester which produces electricity, burned off, or used as vehicle fuel.

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor have a post-consumer composting program?:

Yes

A brief description of the post-consumer composting program:

All food left over at Residential Dining Sutter Hall and the Student Union Marketplace is collected and picked up by Recology and taken to a local anaerobic digester which produces electricity. A small portion of the food waste is composted on-site in an educational Compost Display Area.

Dine-in service ware

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor utilize reusable service ware for “dine in” meals?:

Yes

A brief description of the reusable service ware program:

Residential Dining Sutter Hall is 'dine-in' only and does not provide single-use service ware. The Student Union Marketplace food is served in 'to go' packaging: the facility is not equipped for a large-scale dishwashing operation.

Additionally, Sutter Dining Hall will see a reusable food container system installed and used for all take-out options. OZZI Container system

Take-away materials

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)?:

Yes

A brief description of the compostable containers and service ware:

Plates, clamshells, bowls, and portion cups are all paper products. Service ware is FSC certified products, straws are back-yard compostable paper

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?:

Yes

A brief description of the reusable container discount or incentives program:

At any coffee shop on campus if a customer uses their own mug no matter the size they receive a discount of $0.20 on the price of the cup of coffee. Same with sodas.

Optional Fields

A brief description of other sustainability-related initiatives not covered above:

The University tracking and reporting is grounded in the Real Food Challenge guidelines, or equivalent. The Campus strives to increase its sustainable food purchases to 20 percent of total food budget by 2020. Campuses and food service organizations collaborate to provide information and/or training on sustainable food service operations to staff and patrons.

For more information, please visit: https://calstate.policystat.com/policy/6987526/latest/

Website URL where information about the sustainable dining programs is available:

https://as.csuchico.edu/dining

Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Information obtained from Thomas L Rider with Associated Students Dining.

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.