Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 75.90
Liaison Deborah Steinberg
Submission Date Dec. 6, 2021

STARS v2.2

Carnegie Mellon University
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00 Justin Goel
Associate Director, Dining Services
Dining Services
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1. Sustainable dining initiatives

Local community engagement

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?:
Yes

A brief description of the farmers market, CSA or urban agriculture project:
CMU's Winthrop Community Garden is a collaboration between Carnegie Mellon University and the Winthrop Street neighborhood in Oakland. The garden was started in 2013 by a group of students, faculty, staff, and community members. With the help of the neighborhood and environmental leaders on campus, students have been able to plan the garden from the start. They built raised beds, designed the layout, planted an array of crops, and have taken care of its upkeep. The garden has transformed an empty lot into a space that members of both the CMU community and surrounding neighborhoods can come together and learn about sustainable ways to grow food.

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:
Carnegie Mellon Dining Services offers a diverse portfolio of dining destinations. Three of these dining locations offer sustainability-themed food offerings:

Millie's Coffee 'n' Creamery offers sustainably-sourced coffee, ice cream, and vegan gelato.

Beefsteak is where fresh, market-driven vegetables take center stage. They showcase each season’s bounty as well as year-round favorites to create a hearty, oh-so-delicious meal you can feel good about.

Rooted is focused on real, wholesome foods with completely plant-based ingredients.

Inclusive and local sourcing

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?:
No

A brief description of the support for disadvantaged businesses, social enterprises, and/or local SMEs:
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Estimated percentage of total food and beverage expenditures on products from disadvantaged businesses, social enterprises, and/or local SMEs:
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Low-impact dining

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor host low impact dining events or promote plant-forward options?:
Yes

A brief description of the low impact dining events and/or plant-forward options:
In addition to the campus' two plant-forward dining locations, CMU's dining services department partnered with the student organization Sustainable Earth to host a "beefless" dinner. This meal focused on plant-protein entrees, but provided a few non-beef proteins for those students who wanted to try new things, but still enjoy a few familiar items too.

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:
The campus dining program has several vendors that provide protein vegan offerings available to the entire campus community throughout the day. Rooted, one of Chartwells' campus cafes, is focused on real, wholesome foods with completely plant-based ingredients. Another option is Beefsteak, where fresh, market-driven vegetables take center stage.

Labelling and signage 

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?:
Yes

A brief description of the sustainability labelling and signage in dining halls:
To reduce landfill waste, dining halls and other food service locations on campus have well-labeled and separate containers for compostables, recyclables, and landfill waste.

Signage also identifies vegetarian and vegan options at select dining locations.

Part 2. Food waste minimization and recovery

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:
Dining Services uses LeanPath food waste tracking system in CulinArt Locations. LeanPath provides food waste technology that enabled CulinArt to dramatically reduce food waste and operate more sustainable facilities.

CMU participates in the Food Organics category of the Campus Race to Zero Waste competition each year, encouraging programing and review of it's food waste diversion and recovery efforts.

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:
All student dining is 100 % trayless. The faculty and staff lunch program at one of our dining locations makes trays available to accommodate faculty members upon request.

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:
412 Food Rescue picks up healthy surplus food from CMU (and other locations) and delivers it to community nonprofit organizations, where it is directed to individuals and families experiencing food insecurity. Pick-ups from CMU began in 2017 and occur in multiple locations on campus, but most regularly from the University Center. Five days/week, Tues-Sat, 412 picks up at least five trays of frozen or refrigerated prepared food from the University Center loading dock.

In addition, many campus dining locations donate their excess food to local food banks and church’s. Vendors donate to community-based non-profit feeding programs, including The Light of Life Rescue Mission and the East End Cooperative Ministry. Data is not available on the actual donation amounts; however vendors are quite effective at controlling the amount of waste therefore, donations are limited and occur primarily after large-scale events.

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?:
Yes

A brief description of the food materials diversion program:
Used cooking oils are collected at our dining locations and picked-up by a vendor who processes it into fuel.

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 dining locations throughout campus are currently participating in the pre-consumer composting program. This includes Tazza D’oro locations and LaPrima who are both participating with composting their coffee grinds.

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:
All vendors, at their discretion, are encouraged to use the compost dumpsters at the Cohon University Center, Gates Hillman Complex, GSIA, Resnik, Morewood Gardens, Newell Simon Hall, and Tepper School Building. While no policies are formally set, some vendors utilize the dumpsters. Several departments collect food waste and hold zero waste events, where all waste generated can be composted. Post consumer food collection was added to the custodial contract and awarded in July 2012 and a post-consumer food composting program was implemented January 2013. As of this submission, we have 50+ locations on campus with post-consumer food composting collection bins.

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:
Schatz Dining room uses re-useable service ware for faculty & staff lunches.

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:
Dining Services utilizes compostable containers, as supply allows, in all of its dining locations, which can be collected for compost at all dining locations.

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?:
Yes

A brief description of the reusable container discount or incentives program:
Dining vendors on campus are currently implementing their own reusable beverage cup programs. There are also compostable cornstarch cups in use university-wide. Compostable serve ware and utensils are available as an option in university-catered events.

In addition, Dining Services has implemented a reusable coffee mug discount program named "Scotty Sips"

Optional Fields

A brief description of other sustainability-related initiatives not covered above:
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Website URL where information about the sustainable dining programs is available:
https://www.cmu.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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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.