| Overall Rating | Silver |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 63.01 |
| Liaison | Holli Fajack |
| Submission Date | May 9, 2024 |
California State University, Long Beach
OP-8: Sustainable Dining
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
1.80 / 2.00 |
Alfredo
Macias Director Residential Dining & Catering Forty Niner Shops, Inc. |
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?:
A brief description of the farmers market, CSA or urban agriculture project:
Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) hosts a farmers’ market that takes place once a week during the academic year. The market has multiple local vendors who sell produce and prepared foods. Students from the Sustain U program also table to educate patrons about the importance of shopping locally and supporting their community.
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?:
A brief description of the sustainability-themed food outlet:
N/A
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:
N/A
Estimated percentage of total food and beverage expenditures on products from disadvantaged businesses, social enterprises, and/or local SMEs:
Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor host low impact dining events or promote plant-forward options?:
A brief description of the low impact dining events and/or plant-forward options:
All residential dining halls offer at least one plant-based option at each of their food stations each meal period. Care is taken to ensure that a variety of plant-based meals are offered throughout the week.
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?:
A brief description of the vegan dining program:
Vegan options are offered daily in all residential dining areas and many of the retail dining facilities on campus. Beach Shops run the majority of on-campus restaurants as well as the residential dining halls. At Beach Shops' restaurants, vegetarian and vegan options are available and indicated on the posted menus. The three dining halls each have a dedicated vegetarian and vegan section which provides a diverse rotating menu of delicious, nutritious dishes. The Beach Shops was recognized by PETA for going above and beyond to provide students with vegan options and remains committed to increasing the number of vegetarian and vegan menu items at all dining locations.
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?:
A brief description of the sustainability labelling and signage in dining halls:
The vegetarian and vegan food stations at all residential dining halls are clearly labeled. At many of the retail dining facilities on campus, vegetarian and vegan options are labeled on digital and printed menus with green solid leaves (for vegetarians) or outlined leaves (for vegans). Signage at dish drop areas informs students that the food they scrape into the bin will be diverted from the waste stream via composting. Similar signage is available via table tents that further educate students about how to properly sort their waste. For back-of-house operations, staff use color-coded zero waste bins to properly sort all kitchen waste by stream type (black for trash, green for food waste, and blue for mixed recycling). Each bin is appropriately labeled in both English and Spanish. Similar signage is mounted on central kitchen areas to provide a summary of how to properly divert kitchen waste.
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?:
A brief description of the food recovery competition or commitment program or food waste prevention system:
Beach Pantry acts as a free food market for students. The pantry focuses on recovering food from local vendors and community resources to provide readily accessible food to students. This food is provided by; Alley Cat deliveries, Bixby Knolls, Cal Recycle, Food Finders, Global Electronic Technology Inc, Grocery Outlet, Iranian-Persian American Association, Long Beach Community Table, Long Beach Organic, Long Beach Rotary, Port of Long Beach, ASI Grow Beach community garden. Furthermore, as part of CSU's system-wide policy, CSULB is required to divert food waste from landfills and incinerators through an Organics 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 Cal Recycle State Agency Reporting Center (SARC), per AB 1826 Solid Waste: Organic Recycling. http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB1826&search_keywords Beach Bites is a mobile app available to CSULB students. The app alerts students of available food left over from on-campus catered events and meetings. In fall 2023, the Office of Sustainability partnered with Residential Dining and Beach Shops to conduct two projects aimed at. These programs focused on preventing food waste and encouraging the use of green organic bins for any food waste. To minimize food waste in our campus dining halls we had a competition to see which of the three dorm areas could minimize their waste the most with the winner receiving a sushi day.
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?:
A brief description of the trayless dining or modified menu/portion program:
Trayless dining is the standard in all dining halls. Assistance is given to any student with a special need when obtaining an entrée from any of the service areas.
Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor donate food that would otherwise go to waste to feed people?:
A brief description of the food donation program:
The Beach Shops periodically donates food to the Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) Beach Pantry, which provides food items for students in need. The university also uses Beach Bites to distribute surplus food from various on-campus events. Beach Bites is a mobile app that is available for CSULB students who are iOS or Android users. The app alerts students about available food from on-campus catered events and meetings
Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor divert food materials from the landfill, incinerator or sewer for animal feed or industrial uses?:
A brief description of the food materials diversion program:
The Beach Shops contracts with a local vendor, Baker Commodities, to collect used cooking oil from campus restaurants. Baker Commodities processes the cooking oil and converts it into biofuel.
Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor have a pre-consumer composting program?:
A brief description of the pre-consumer composting program:
Composting bins are provided for all back-of-house residential dining kitchen areas. The bins are color-coded green for compost and labeled with bilingual (English/Spanish) signage with graphics indicating acceptable and non-acceptable items.
Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor have a post-consumer composting program?:
A brief description of the post-consumer composting program:
The composting stations near the dish drop areas of all residential dining halls inform students to scrape all leftover food and soiled napkins into organic waste bins. Signage is color-coded green and indicates which items are acceptable for the composting stream.
Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor utilize reusable service ware for “dine in” meals?:
A brief description of the reusable service ware program:
Campus residents are provided washable china and flatware with all food items served directly onto china plates
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)?:
A brief description of the compostable containers and service ware:
All incoming residential students are provided with reusable to-go containers for use at the residential dining halls. These "Green Beach" clamshell-style containers and cups must be returned to the dining halls for repeated use. Many of the campus restaurants have also transitioned to compostable to-go containers, paper straws, and bamboo utensils.
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?:
A brief description of the reusable container discount or incentives program:
Residential Dining Allergen Project The Residential Dining Halls are the residents' “home away from home," being that many of them are on their own for the first time. Living away from home means the sense of security in knowing what is in the food they are consuming is gone. Our Dining Allergen Project aims to decrease the fear, especially for our residents with food allergies, by clearly labeling the top eight allergens that can be found in the meals offered at our three residential dining facilities. The “Big Eight” are eight foods that account for ninety percent of allergens in the United States (FDA, 2017), which include any protein derivatives from milk, eggs, fish, crustacean/shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, and soybeans. All students and guests of the residential dining halls have an easy and informative representation of the different food allergens in the meals being served. Displayed on both the residential dining guides and the menu boards are graphics depicting the allergens that are present in each food. Zero Waste Dining Hall Staff Training Waste Not is a campus-wide program designed to help reduce wasteful practices and improve recycling infrastructure across the university. The program has been implemented in both back-of-house and front-of-house at all three residential dining halls on campus. As part of the program, dining staff is provided an onboarding training at the beginning of each semester to teach them about using the appropriately labeled bins and to help them properly dispose of their kitchen waste.
A brief description of other sustainability-related initiatives not covered above:
Residential Dining Allergen Project The Residential Dining Halls are the residents' “home away from home," being that many of them are on their own for the first time. Living away from home means the sense of security in knowing what is in the food they are consuming is gone. Our Dining Allergen Project aims to decrease the fear, especially for our residents with food allergies, by clearly labeling the top eight allergens that can be found in the meals offered at our three residential dining facilities. The “Big Eight” are eight foods that account for ninety percent of allergens in the United States (FDA, 2017), which include any protein derivatives from milk, eggs, fish, crustacean/shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, and soybeans. All students and guests of the residential dining halls have an easy and informative representation of the different food allergens in the meals being served. Displayed on both the residential dining guides and the menu boards are graphic depicting the allergens that are present in each food. Zero Waste Dining Hall Staff Training Waste Not is a campus-wide program designed to help reduce wasteful practices and improve recycling infrastructure across the university. The program has been implemented in both back-of-house and front-of-house at all three residential dining halls on campus. As part of the program, dining staff is provided an on-boarding training at the beginning of each semester to teach them about using the appropriately labeled bins and to help them properly dispose of their kitchen waste. CSU Sustainability Policy – Sustainable Food Service At the system-wide level, the CSU Sustainability Policy (adopted 2014) mandates that tracking and reporting is grounded in the Real Food Challenge guidelines, or equivalent, with the goal of campuses increasing their sustainable food purchases to 20 percent of the total food budget by 2020. The Policy also outlines that campuses and foodservice organizations collaborate to provide information and/or training on sustainable foodservice 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:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Reporting year, AY 2023-24 Additional information about the programs or initiatives is available: http://www.csulb.edu/sustainability/program-initiatives/food-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.