University of Washington, Seattle
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

Yes, the UW Farm hosts a CSA for faculty/staff and students June through September. In addition, EcoReps, a student club on campus hosts a quarterly farmers market called the "Green Husky Market" to promote student engagement with farmers markets.

Cultivate, our on-campus gastropub, was created to showcase local and sustainable cuisine, featuring sustainable seafood and produce from our on-campus, certified organic, sustainable farm.
https://hfs.uw.edu/Eat/Dining-Locations/Cultivate

UW also owns District Market that features local and sustainable products, and the dining option Tero showcases deliciously unique bowls that combine whole grains with fresh veggies and lean proteins.

UW Dining does business with a variety of SME's including Alki Bakery, a local bakery that has approximately 180 employees. UW Dining also chooses to purchase green fair trade coffee from Atlas coffee, to demonstrate support for these practices through deliberate spend.

HFS hosts events as does UW Medical Centers. This includes the annual UW Farm to Table dinner featuring UW Dining chefs and UW Farm sustainably grown, organic produce.

We offer some of the best plant based proteins in the country that are from local sources; Gardein Protein, Field Roast, and Island Spring Organic Tofu. Our approach to vegan is to measure complete vegan proteins while also providing additional sources to combine and make complete essential amino acid proteins such as legumes, nuts, vegetables, grains and cereals. We have specific menu symbols we utilize for the customer to identify vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free. Special meals including holiday themed meals always include alternative, vegan offerings as well.

HFS has labeling and signage which informs students of its sustainable food options. UW Dining is also a member of the MCURC and utilizes marketing from that organization in collaboration with our in-house Communications and Marketing team to generate educational materials to inform customers of low impact food choices.

Nearly all production food service operations on campus donate leftover but reusable food entrees and the accompaniments to the on-campus food pantry, as well as Food Lifeline to support homeless shelters in close proximity to the University of Washington. Excess overhead and inventory is also diverted to these outlets.

Trays are no longer available in our dining halls in an effort to reduce post-consumer waste.

Our food and beverage vendors donate product to needy families through the UW Campus Husky food pantry, Food Lifeline and Northwest Harvest and Ronald McDonald House. The UW Dining staff donate their time to support programs that feed and support needy families in our region. Nearly all of our production food service operations donate leftover but reusable food entrees and the accompaniments to the Husky Food Pantry and Food Lifeline to support homeless shelters in close proximity to the University of Washington.

For excess food materials that are consumable, early all of our production food service operations donate leftover but reusable food entrees and the accompaniments to the Husky Food Pantry and Food Lifeline to support homeless shelters in close proximity to the University of Washington. For those materials that are not consumable, food waste is composted through our local Cedar Grove facility and coffee grounds are recovered via an in-house program facilitated by UW Recycling.

We compost all pre-consumer food and beverage waste in all of our food service operations. Since the beginning of 2004 we have incorporated food waste composting into all of our back of the house operations. All food and beverage waste is collected and put out on all of our loading docks for pickup by our commercial composting facility, Cedar Grove which is located just 35 miles away from the University.

UW Seattle campus’s food waste tonnage is partially calculated with volume to weight estimates. In 2015, we performed an audit and found that, due to the increase in paper towel composting and compostable packaging, food waste is much lighter per cubic yard now than when the previous estimate was created 10 years ago.

We offer 100% compostable disposables products for our produced food which allows the customer to discard all of food and beverage waste into compost collection containers. We have a triple bin system for recycling, compost and solid waste in all of our food service locations, both retail and residence halls, as well as our outdoor mobile dining units. Our campus catering department offers compostable products for all of their events. We strive for a zero waste residential and dining environment.

We also capture cooking oil for recycling from eight food service locations on campus.
In July of 2012, the dining program at the University of Washington received the gold award from the National Association of College and University Food Services sustainability awards competition for our waste management program.

In addition to the campus cafes, residence halls and dining facilities, other post-consumer food waste composting infrastructure can be found on campus. This includes 35 outdoor containers that capture recycling, compost and landfill materials. These outdoor containers are located in high-traffic, high-food waste consumption areas such as Red Square, the HUB and the Quad. UW Recycling has also invested a lot of resources into expanding the composting program throughout all academic buildings on campus with over 650 compost bins found in 135 buildings on campus.

UW Seattle campus’s food waste tonnage is partially calculated with volume to weight estimates. In 2015, we performed an audit and found that, due to the increase in paper towel composting and compostable packaging, food waste is much lighter per cubic yard now than when the previous estimate was created 10 years ago. For additional details, view our 2016 Annual Report: http://www.washington.edu/facilities/building/recyclingandsolidwaste/sites/default/files/signs/UWRecycling2016AnnualReport.pdf

In 2019, UW Recycling calculated a total diversion rate of 61% across campus, saving more than $1.5 million by recycling, composting, and reusing. This equates to a net reduction of 11,037 tons of greenhouse gas emissions. Food waste accounted for approximately 13.9% of the overall waste stream in FY2019 for a total of 1,718 tons.

We provide 100% compostable service ware in all of our food service operations. In operations connected with residence halls, we use reusables for dining in and compostables for take out.

We use ceramics and melamine in our residence hall food service operations that are returned, washed, and reused. We have a very robust reusable mug program in our cafes and beverage platforms and offer discounts for customers who bring their own reusable mugs.

25 cent discount when using a reusable container. Buy a UW stainless steel mug and get 10 refills for free. We also utilize the OZZI reusable container program in one of our residential dining facilities and upon completion of this pilot program hope to expand to our second residential dining facility.

HFS opened Tero dining venue which is based on the plant-forward Menus of Change principles. UW Dining Executive Chef Tracey and her team created deliciously unique bowls that combine whole grains (couscous, quinoa, amaranth) and fresh veggies with a lean protein. The menu is customizable and comes with a choice of mouth-watering sauces. The venue also focuses on health and wellness. This concept's recipes are now being utilized across campus in multiple dining facilities.
https://www.washington.edu/wholeu/2018/03/23/staff-story-tero/

All of our eggs on campus are organic and cage free, humane and salmon safe certified and come from a local farm just south of the University near Roy, Washington, at the foot of Mt. Rainier. We incorporate soy based proteins and utilize a combination of legumes, grains and nuts to provide all of the essential amino acids for a complete protein and healthy diet. The majority of our dairy products come from Medosweet, which sources from local family owned dairies that are antibiotic and steroid free. The milk is very fresh using a three day process from the time the cows are milked till we receive the product and put it in our cooler and recipes for our customers to enjoy. We have strong relationships with local bakeries that use sustainable and organic ingredients and partnerships with local meat and seafood companies that use humane practices. Our spend on organic purchases has increased over this past year and we continue to focus on sustainability in our dining locations. Plant-forward options including core proteins and plants at the center of the plate have and continue to expand in all venues on campus. We feature cutting edge analogs and animal alternatives for all meal periods and cuisines.