Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 61.30
Liaison Scott Morgan
Submission Date Aug. 30, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Evergreen State College, The
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00 Scott Morgan
Director of Sustainability
President's Office
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1: Sustainable Dining Initiatives 

Sustainable Dining Policy

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor have a published sustainable dining policy?:
Yes

A brief description of the sustainable dining policy:
"We work together to continually develop and implement sustainable solutions. Through Green Thread, our environmental sustainability platform, we bring innovative and efficient solutions to life. We are passionately focused on reducing the environmental impact within our operations. Through Green Thread, our environmental sustainability platform, we bring innovative and efficient solutions to life. We help our employees and customers minimize environmental impacts in our operations and in our communities. We place special emphasis on responsible sourcing, waste minimization, efficient operations, and transportation management. But we don’t stop there. We measure our impact and hold ourselves accountable to continuously improve." https://evergreen.campusdish.com/Sustainability.aspx

On-Campus Sourcing 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor source food from a campus garden or farm?:
Yes

A brief description of the program to source food from a campus garden or farm:
The Evergreen State College Organic Farm in Olympia, WA is one of the partners for dining services http://evergreen.campusdish.com/Sustainability/WhatWeAreDoing.aspx About the farm: Connected to main campus by two trails through the campus forest, the Organic Farm is a working small-scale organic farm that serves as a learning laboratory focused on small-scale organic agriculture. The Organic Farm currently produces fruit, vegetables, eggs, chickens, herbs, cut flowers, and sheep. http://evergreen.edu/organicfarm

Local Community Engagement 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor host a farmers market, community supported agriculture (CSA) or fishery program, and/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:
The organic farm at Evergreen runs a farm stand operated by the students of The Evergreen Organic Farm in the central campus square throughout the growing season. There you will find the most local and organic produce available on-campus, 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 vegetables.

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:
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. https://evergreen.campusdish.com/LocationsAndMenus/The-Greenery

Low-Impact Dining Events 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor host low impact dining events (e.g. Meatless Mondays)?:
Yes

A brief description of the low impact dining events:
Aramark has Less-meat Mondays in its cafeteria, Real Food oriented pop-up salad bar with greens from Evergreen's organic farm.

Sustainability-Themed Meals 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor host sustainability-themed meals (e.g. local harvest dinners)?:
Yes

A brief description of the sustainability-themed meals:
Farm to Fork for World Food Day (during Fall Quarter each year) and Earth Week (the week of April 22nd each year) have themed meals.

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:
The Flaming Eggplant is a student run collective cafe located on the Evergreen State College campus in Olympia, Washington. As a student-worker collective, the mission of the Flaming Eggplant Cafe is to nourish the local food system by making delicious, healthy, ecologically and socially just food accessible to all. We strive to empower the campus and greater Olympia community to organize, study, teach, seed, and create an egalitarian society together beginning with the act of eating.

Labeling and Signage 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor inform customers about low impact food choices and sustainability practices through labeling and signage in dining halls?:
Yes

A brief description of the sustainability labeling 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 on menu items that contain no meat or animal products.

Outreach and Education 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor engage in outreach efforts to support learning and research about sustainable food systems?:
Yes

A brief description of the outreach efforts to support learning and research about sustainable food systems:
The Food Systems Working Group and the Real Food Challenge, both led and supported by student interns and open to student participation leads outreach that supports learning and research. The institution's primary dining services contractor participates in a monthly "Weigh the Waste" event and students participate by weighing their food scraps in the dining hall. The waste is collectively weighed and compared monthly. Students then pledge to reduce waste at The Greenery.

Other Initiatives 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor have other sustainability-related initiatives (e.g. health and wellness initiatives, making culturally diverse options available)?:
Yes

A brief description of the other sustainability-related dining initiatives:
The food service web site 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. https://evergreen.campusdish.com/HealthandWellness

Part 2: Food and Dining Waste 

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:
Food Waste Prevention System: LeanPath Tracker. The cooks use the LeanPath Tracker to determine the amount of food waste. They use this data to determine how they are being wasteful with food and to figure out solutions to these problems. From the LeanPath Website: The LeanPath Tracker 2.2 is a state-of-the-art food waste tracking terminal that includes a built-in scale, camera, and touchscreen user interface. Before throwing away any food waste (overproduction, expired items, trimmings, etc.), a culinary team member places the food on the scale, the camera takes a picture of the waste, and the user answers a few questions, with just a few short taps. That data is then automatically transmitted in real-time to the LeanPath Online Reporting Dashboard.

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:
Dining Services has been trayless since 2010. By dining trayless, you have helped positively impact the waste stream. Dining trayless 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.

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:
Food Donation Program: 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. http://evergreen.campusdish.com/Sustainability/WhatWeAreDoing.aspx

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 (e.g. converting cooking oil to fuel, on-site anaerobic digestion)?:
Yes

A brief description of the food materials diversion program:
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.

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 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?:
Yes

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.

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:
Re-usable service ware is standard in the cafeteria and compostable disposable paper products are used in the carry out food service. It’s been our experience that the ‘compostable’ plastic/PLA items are not, in fact, compostable, so we no longer use those items.

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:
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 (e.g. mugs) instead of disposable or compostable containers in “to-go” food service operations?:
Yes

A brief description of the reusable container discount or incentives program:
Customers with their own re-usable beverage containers are given a 29 cent discounts.

Other Materials Management Initiatives 

Has the institution or its primary dining services contractor implemented other materials management initiatives to minimize waste not covered above (e.g. working with vendors and other entities to reduce waste from food packaging)?:
Yes

A brief description of other dining services materials management initiatives:
The dining services contractor purchases in bulk items to be used in the dining hall i.e. no individual packets of condiments are found in the main dining area.

Optional Fields 

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
http://www.evergreen.edu/dining/sustainability

Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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