Coastal Carolina University
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

Every year Sustain Coastal, in partnership with the Waccamaw Market Cooperative, hosts 4-5 farmers markets on CCU's main campus. These farmers markets feature local businesses with fresh and locally grown produce, plants, baked goods, handmade jewelry, and other eco-friendly products. The Waccamaw Market Cooperative is a non-profit organization that is responsible for coordinating and managing community-based farmers markets throughout Horry/Georgetown counties.

All markets are held on Prince Lawn from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. with the exception of the evening Holiday Market that takes place at Blanton Park.

More about the CCU Farmers Markets: https://www.coastal.edu/sustain/programsevents/farmersmarket/

Coastal Now Video: https://youtu.be/gWyTHhNSFo4

Waccamaw Market Cooperative: https://waccamawmarkets.org/

Located in the largest residential dining hall on CCU’s campus, Hicks Dining Hall, is a Babylon Hydroponics System. In May of 2022, Aramark/CCU Food Crew partnered with Babylon Hydroponics to be able to grow leafy greens and microgreens directly in campus dining halls. A hydroponics system is a technique of growing plants using a water-based nutrient solution instead of soil. To grow the plants, a growing matter is used to help the roots grow. From the Babylon system, Aramark has grown romaine and iceberg lettuce for the salad bar in Hicks, along with basil, parsley, and mint for seasonings in food.

Aramark/CCU Food Crew was awarded a 4-star Green Restaurant Certification at Chauncey’s Choice, the first collegiate 4-Star certification in South Carolina. Aramark is currently working on getting additional locations certified.

Aramark is also working on connecting all campus dining sustainability initiatives to the Sustainable Development Goals. Currently, 9 out of the 17 goals have been achieved.

In on-campus POD Stores, we sell C2Life Meals. C2Life is a women-led company that is passionate about providing healthy nutritious meals to everyone. C2Life is based out of Morganton, NC. For every meal that is purchased, there is one meal donated to C2Life Foundation, which is a non-profit organization. C2Life meals are all vegan or vegetarian microwavable meal options for students. They offer six different meal options such as chili lime plantain, curried wild rice, and a black bean burger meal.

The Plant-Forward Program with the Dining Services at CCU promotes a style of dining that emphasizes vegetables, fruit, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds. Plants as the star of the plate allow for animal products to appear in smaller portions. Some examples of the meals that are offered are salads, garden burgers, burrito bowls, bagels, soup, sushi, smoothies, and much more. According to statistician Francesco Tubiello, going meatless one day a week will help eliminate about 1,600 kilograms of CO2 per person per year, (Ladyzhets 2022).

Aramark / CCU Food Crew promotes plant-forward options in all of our dining facilities including educational tabling and sampling. Our registered dietitian samples plant-forward options regularly throughout the semester for students and guests.

https://coastalcarolina.campusdish.com/HealthAndWellness/PlantForward

Our vegan–vegetarian program has been set forth by our corporate chefs to ensure that daily intake for vegan-vegetarian customers is met. It is designed to allow customization of the ingredients available for the meal period as well as any other of the vegan-vegetarian items from the salad bar that would heat up well and complement the dish being served. Aramark offers a meatless option daily that helps reduce the amount of animal derived food purchases. Our registered dietitian samples vegan options regularly throughout the semester for students and guests.

There are signs around the around the dining halls that are brightly colored, leaf shaped messages that make better-for-you choices easy to find. It is a simple way that can help you find the food that fits your lifestyle. The first sign is “Eat Well”, this sign means that the food it is referring to contain nutritionally dense whole foods like fruits, vegetables, leafy greens, whole grains, beans, and lean protein. They are also lower in calories, saturated fat and sodium. The next sign “made with Whole grains” makes up over 15% of the menu items. The next two signs are “Vegan” and “Vegetarian”. These state whether the food products are vegan and have no meat, dairy, eggs or honey or vegetarian where the products contain no meat or fish. The last sign is “Plant-Forward”, this features a style of cooking where the dish emphasizes healthy plants at the center of the plate with a proportionally small quantity of animal protein.

Aramark / CCU Food Crew promotes low impact food choices and sustainability practices with "We compost our leftovers" signage throughout our dining facilities.

https://coastalcarolina.campusdish.com/HealthAndWellness/FoodThatFitsYourLife

Aramark tracks production trends and food waste throughout its operation with a proprietary menu management system. Monthly targets and annual improvement targets are cascaded down throughout the organization to ensure that a reduction in the carbon footprint is a central focus of operations.

Food waste is collected from each dining hall and is turned into compost and used in plant beds throughout campus. To minimize food waste before it is generated they input back-of-house operational practices. Other practices include programs to help consumers decrease food waste, and feed those in need.

Aramark/CCU Food Crew, in partnership with Sustain Coastal, also hosts monthly Weigh the Waste events to help educate students on food waste that is occurring in our dining halls. At these events, the dish return is closed down to students and the students separate their food waste from landfill waste. We then talk to the students about ways to help eliminate food waste, such as taking a sample if they are unsure if they will like it or asking for a half portion of what is being offered.

https://coastalcarolina.campusdish.com/Sustainability
https://www.coastal.edu/sustain/campussustainabilityinitiatives/sustainabledining

The Coastal Carolina University Dining Halls participate in a sustainability initiative where they use a trayless dining service. Dining Services have been using trayless dining since 2010. Trayless dining positively impacts the waste stream, minimizes food waste, conserves energy and water, and also reduces the number of cleaning chemicals entering the waste stream.

To reduce plastic / Styrofoam cups, there is a reusable mug program where students and faculty can bring their own cups in for a drink and receive a discount on beverages while also helping the environment. Aramark/CCU Food Crew does not offer trays in any of the dining facilities and offers students standardized portions, allowing for seconds or double portions upon request.

To reduce single-use plastics in the dining halls Aramark/CCU Food Crew has partnered with Planet Ozzi. Planet Ozzi is a closed-loop reusable to-go program. How it works is anyone can purchase a reusable to-go container, for a one-time fee, then they can grab food from the Residential Dining Halls, Hicks, Chauncey’s Choice, and UP Dining Hall, once they are finished with the box they return it to one of our four machines and receive a token. They can then exchange for a clean-sanitized box from one of our cashiers. The program was implemented in August of 2021, since then 31,264 containers have gone through the machine; resulting in 31,264 single-use to-go containers being kept out of the landfill.

Aramark/CCU Food Crew has partnered with a local men’s shelter in Myrtle Beach, SC called New Directions to donate any extra perishable and nonperishable food from campus dining.

In the Fall of 2022, CCU Food Crew partnered with New Directions in Myrtle Beach, SC to donate any extra safe food to their shelter. New Directions is a men's, women's, and children's center which hands out hot meals to community members in need. Since August 2022 we have been able to donate over 2,000 pounds of food that would have otherwise gone to waste. This partnership started during our football season as a way to donate the extra food that is produced at football games. Since then, we have donated food from dining locations before any long breaks or closures that might occur throughout the semester.

Coastal Carolina University also has an on-campus food pantry, called the CINO pantry. This initiative started in 2012 from a class on campus. The students started a food pantry in a closet on campus. The CINO Pantry is now a full room located in one of our main buildings on campus. Aramark/CCU Food Crew’s retail/national brand locations will donate food to the CINO Pantry daily. Places like Einstein Bros Bagels, Starbucks, and Chick Fil A will donate any non-perishable food items into the pantry. We also stock the pantry with a refrigerator and freezer so students can access perishable food items.

100% of all the oil that is used in Dining Services is recycled by Quest. By using Quest, the oil that would have been thrown down the drain or thrown in the garbage, is instead turned into animal feed additive, biofuel, biodiesel, or is processed into lubricants resulting in one hundred percent landfill diversion. Additionally, Aramark / CCU Food Crew composts leftovers in all residential dining facilities.

Aramark/CCU Food Crew also uses mostly compostable disposables in their locations. These items are not used on a daily basis, only in emergencies, however, items such as compostable plates, utensils, bowls, and cups are used. SMART Recycling composts all of these materials plus our food waste.

At four of our locations, pre-consumer food waste is gathered and placed in plastic roll cart containers outside of the food preparation buildings on campus. The rolling containers are then picked up by SMART Recycling. SMART Recycling then composts all of our food waste on campus at the Horry County Solid Waste Authority.

In partnership with SMART Recycling and Aramark Dining Services, Coastal Carolina University entered into a post-consumer composting program at four of our dining locations. The carts are emptied 3 times per week. To date, the program has diverted over 500 tons of food waste from the landfill.

Aramark provides silverware, plates, cups, and bowls for dine-in meals that are cleaned and sanitized in the location for reuse. We only use compostable products in extreme emergencies in dining locations.

Aramark currently offers an exchange system for residential restaurants called OZZI for "to-go" meals. The OZZI system allows diners to swipe in, fill a cleaned and sanitized container, and take it with them to go. They return their used to-go container and exchange it for a key tag and leave, or they can get another box to fill and go with them. Aramark also sells reusable silverware for students to purchase which includes a spork, knife, straw, and chopsticks. Sustain Coastal distributes reusable silverware as well to students, faculty, and staff who participate in various programs and events on campus. Aramark has a reusable mug program where students can use the mug as a to-go beverage in our Residential locations along with discounts at our retail brands.

Aramark/CCU Food Crew has a reusable mug that they can use to refill beverages in the residential dining areas at no cost. They can also use the mug as a to-go beverage for $1 refills at select retail brands. Use of these bottles is encouraged in place of paper, plastic, or foam cups to reduce the amount of landfill waste on campus. Starbucks offers a 10% discount for reusable cups.

https://coastalcarolina.campusdish.com/Sustainability
https://www.coastal.edu/sustain/campussustainabilityinitiatives/sustainabledining