University of Dayton
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

University of Dayton Sustainable Dining Policy Initial Policy, January 2018 GOALS: Achieve and maintain Green Restaurant Association Certification. Maintain at least 3 stars at large locations and minimum 2 stars (out of 4 possible) at smaller cafes. Continue to purchase Fair Trade items, at minimum two foods at each location. Continue to source more items to offer and sell across campus dining and retail outlets. Increase food procurement from local and regional food producers; and/or fosters a sustainable food service program that contributes to the economic vitality, environmental sustainability, and quality of life in the region. Increase the percentage of foods purchased with third-party certification (USDA certified organic, Certified Humane Raised, Sustainable Seafood, etc.) Maintains variety, quality, and availability of vegetarian, vegan, and organic options. We will encourage our vendors to supply us with food that is, among other attributes, produced without synthetic pesticides and hormones, or antibiotics given to animals in the absence of diagnosed disease. We will work with our food suppliers, local farmers, and community-based organizations to increase the availability of locally sourced food, when seasonality permits; in order to: - Reduce negative environmental impacts by decreasing the distance food travels from farm to plate; - Improve the economic vitality of communities in and around UD service areas; and increase the freshness of fruits and vegetables that enter UD’s food supply. Any changes in our food purchasing policies and practices will minimize operational impacts, be economically viable and, whenever possible, be cost neutral. Working with the Hanley Sustainability Institute, we will be reviewing the impact of our food purchases on our greenhouse gas emissions. We will work with food suppliers to try to minimize non-compostable packaging and use compostable and recyclable packaging as much as possible. UD DINING’S CURRENT INITIATIVES: In all its dimensions, sustainable dining is a critical component of the University’s environmental initiatives. UD Dining, the University’s primary food service program, operates with sustainability best practices at its core. Sustainable Purchasing Approximately 3% of all food served is purchased from vendors within 250 miles of the UD campus, local producers and/or Third Party verified. Halal chicken is from Case Farms in Canton, Ohio. Beginning March 1,2018, No Antibiotic Ever Chicken breasts from Tyson will be served in all dining halls. All chicken breasts served will be NAE. Eggs are from local farms. We will begin to research sourcing cage free shell eggs. Hydroponic Lettuce is from Davidson Family Growers, local farmer, New Carlisle, OH. Turkey –From Bowman&Landes Farms, New Carlisle, OH and other local farmers Coffee - Some is fair trade; Sourced from a local roaster and distributor, Rooted Grounds. Barry Bagel provides local bagels. Young’s Dairy produces ice cream; from Yellow Springs, OH Produce One supplies local produce when in season, in the region. Local bakeries: Ele Bakery, Rahn’s Bakery and Mehaffies Pies are used on campus and/or for catering. Menu Options/Range UD Dining provides vegetarian and vegan options daily, both in the dining halls and retail outlets. Menus also accommodate food allergies and special diets. Meatless options are available at all locations. Students, faculty & staff have access to Net Nutrition, which provides nutrition, ingredient and allergen information online, for foods served on campus. Students with a special diet need may have access to the A+ Room for additional food choices. UD Dining‘s Registered Dietitian, Joan Bauman, meets with students regularly to provide customized meal planning, facilitate one-on-one consultations with the dining halls’ Chefs, and educate students on balanced nutrition. Sustainability education is ongoing to increase awareness. We utilize our website, videos, posters and table tents to educate students about Dining Services sustainability initiatives. Community Outreach UD Dining is committed to supporting the community. The department donates 300 meals per week to St.Vincent DePaul (SVDP) and other hunger agencies. UD Dining works with the Food Recovery Network, a student organization who collects leftover food, and donates to SVDP. Our catering dept. also donates leftover food to City Gospel Mission. Additionally, every fall, students may donate up to $10.00 from their meal plan to give to local hunger agencies. Dining also supports our students taking action to benefit the local community, by providing donations for student group fundraisers and special events, such as Global Brigade, UD Miracle Flyerthon, River Stewards, and Campus Ministry and various student council fundraising events. Composting, Reduce, ReUse and Recycling UD Dining went 100% compostable for all take-out containers, in all dining halls in 2009. Compostable waste from our 3 largest dining halls is hauled to a nearby composting facility. More than 800 tons of waste have been diverted from landfills since 2009. In the fall of 2017, Kennedy Union purchased a slow-grind system for food waste and compostable waste. The waste is broken down into small pieces then centrifuged to take out excess water. The future plan is to use this compostable waste at our own UD composting site on campus. Once complete, and if successful, the plan is to purchase a system like this for two other large dining locations, Marycrest and Virginia W. Kettering Halls. This will end our need for hauling compostable waste to the composting facility. Additionally, we would like to begin to collect compostable waste from our smaller café locations (Empo, Curran Place & BSB), and residence halls. The plan is to increase involvement of students in the process of collecting compostable waste from the residence halls. We also use two Ecovim machines daily, which convert 250 lbs. of vegetable and fruit waste into 25 lbs. of organic matter suitable for use as mulch or soil amendment. The Ecovims are used by our Central Production facility, which produces a majority of fresh produce and Grab & Go items, Monday through Friday. In collaboration with UD Facilities Dept. and the Hanley Sustainability Institute, the compost generated from the Ecovims is used on campus, for landscape use. Re-Using oil UD Dining recovers and recycles cooking oil through Restaurant Technologies Inc. (RTI). RTI picks up used cooking oil from Kennedy Union dining. They then work with other companies to recycle the oil, or re-use the oil so that it is not going into landfills. The other advantage of this is that no packaging is used to transport the oil. The summer of 2018, the goal is to have the RTI system brought to Marycrest Dining hall to recover the used fryer oil there. Surplus Goods UD Dining does not throw away surplus kitchen equipment, including pots, pans, dishware, restaurant equipment, tables and chairs. Instead, extras are stored for future use, or if not needed, we work with a local company who will take these items. They are not sent to landfills. Service Items Compostable and/or biodegradable plates, bowls, cups, straws, napkins and flatware are used in all dining areas except Au Bon Pain (ABP). Currently, we are working with ABP to package their products in compostable containers. Reusable dishes, utensils and cups are available in most Dining Halls. Reusable Containers UD Dining provides reusable mugs for hot or cold beverages. Customers who purchase a reusable mug receive a discount on coffee, tea and fountain drinks purchased using the mug. Recycling Dining services has been recycling since 2009. We participate in Recyclemania each year. Recycled Furniture UD Dining recently purchased chairs and tables made from recycled plastic bottles, for the Kennedy Union dining areas. Green Restaurant Association (GRA) UD Dining has received GRA certification in many of its dining halls. GRA assesses seven environmental categories for which the maximum standard to reach is 4 stars. The seven categories include: Water Efficiency, Waste Reduction and Recycling, Sustainable Durable Goods & Building Materials, Sustainable Food, Energy, Reusables & Environmentally Preferable Disposables, and Chemical and Pollution Reduction. Marycrest Dining – 3 Stars Virginia W.Kettering Dining (Grainary) – 3 Stars Kennedy Union Dining (toss) - 3 Stars The Emporium – 3 Stars Brown St. Bistro – still undergoing assessment UD Catering & Riverview Café – have not yet been evaluated. Fair Trade The University of Dayton has achieved Fair Trade University designation. Dining Services uses, offers, or sells at least two Fair Trade items at every campus retail outlet. Several outlets have multiple offerings. We are currently working with Young’s Dairy to create a Fair Trade ice cream flavor, specifically made for UD.

Our catering dept. grows fresh herbs on-site in a self-hydrating system. This is done March thru October.

UD hosts a farmers market: Hanley Sustainability Institute and Sustainability Club convene an annual fall farmers market with local farmers from the area. Dining Services donated reusable bags for the event. The University of Dayton supports the Mission of Mary Cooperative/Farm, which operates a CSA. A partnership among the University of Dayton, East End Community Services and Mission of Mary Cooperative is working to transform the former Lincoln Elementary School site into an urban farm and greenspace known as Lincoln Hill Gardens.

Each of our dining locations offers vegan options including complete-protein vegan options at every meal.

Dining services places table tents explaining our 3-trash system, composting and sustainability initiatives. Our compostable hot cups display a message that the cup is compostable and to return to the appropriate can or location for composting. As part of a pilot project, one of the dining facilities is displaying signage on the carbon footprint of menu items.

Dining services has collaborated with the Hanley Sustainability Institute to purchase a slow-grind waste system. Students are engaged in weighing this waste to determine the decomposition rate and to determine the size of space we need to build our own composting facility. Dining Services is also working with student research to determine the carbon footprint of dining options.

Dining services offers culturally diverse options including Halal meat at one location (Virginia W.Kettering) and several other diverse cuisines at “Spice” in Kennedy Union dining. Spice includes Mexican Monday, Middle East Tuesday, Asian Wednesday, Italian Thursday and Coastal Friday. Other locations also offer some diverse menu items. Students, faculty & staff have access to Net Nutrition, which provides nutrition, ingredient and allergen information online, for foods served on campus. Students with a special diet need may have access to the A+ Room for additional food choices. UD Dining‘s Registered Dietitian, Joan Bauman, meets with students regularly to provide customized meal planning, facilitate one-on-one consultations with the dining halls’ Chefs, and educate students on balanced nutrition.

The university participates in RecycleMania, which has a food waste diversion and recovery/donation component.

At UD, all Dining is ala carte, not All You Care To Eat, which limits tray use and reduces post-consumer food waste. So, trayless dining has not been implemented because we do not use a large amount of trays even though they are available. At Kennedy Union, trays are only available upon request.

Dining services donates leftover food to Food Recovery Network and City Gospel Mission.

Dining services diverts compostable waste from the landfill (food and compostable serviceware). We have been composting since 2009. This compostable material is converted to mulch and soil conditioner. UD Dining also recovers and recycles cooking oil through Restaurant Technologies Inc. (RTI). RTI picks up used cooking oil from Kennedy Union dining. They then work with other companies to recycle the oil, or re-use the oil so that it is not going into landfills.

All pre-consumer food waste is sorted and collected at all three dining halls on campus for composting. Dining services has two Ecovim machines which each convert 250 pounds of organic waste into 25 pounds of dry organic matter to be used as soil conditioner or mulch. UD uses both pre-consumer and post-consumer compostable material.

Post-consumer food waste is sorted and collected in the kitchens of all three dining halls on our campus. In addition to food scraps, we have converted all disposable products used on campus to compostable alternatives. While washable china, flatware and cups are encouraged, we do offer disposable "take-out" containers, cups and flatware, which are all compostable. Initiating composting on our campus has reduced waste from our dining units by over 90%. Dining services has a 3-trash system where compostable waste is sorted in our dishrooms and put in compostable compactor unit for hauling to commercial composting facility.

Reusable dishes, utensils and cups are available to all the Dining Halls for "dine in" meals. It is the option of the requesting department to use reuable serviceware.

We have been using compostable containers since 2009. Previously, compostable service ware and food waste were hauled to an off-site composting facility. This year (2017-2018), UD implemented an on-site composting program.

For "to-go" beverages, UD sells reusable mugs and offers a discount on all coffee, tea and fountain drinks purchased using the mug.

With two of our local vendors, we re-use containers to minimize packaging waste (Davidson Family Growers [lettuce] and Rahn's Bakery [bagels]).