Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 52.21
Liaison David Husemoller
Submission Date June 7, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

College of Lake County
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00 David Husemoller
Sustainability Manager
Facilities
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

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

A brief description of the sustainable dining policy:

CLC recently contracted with Fresh Ideas to provide food services in the cafe, at the coffee shop, and in catering services. CLC chose Fresh Ideas partly based on their eagerness to embrace sustainability initiatives. CLC's Cafe Willow prepares food with produce grown on campus. The cafe offers food scrap composting along with recycling and trash disposal options for patrons and in the kitchen.


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:

CLC's campus farm


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:

CLC hosts a farm market weekly during the growing season, featuring produce grown on campus.


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:

Fresh Ideas is our food service provider. They have a program using icons to identify food dishes as vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free etc.


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:

Fresh Ideas promotes the idea of Meatless Mondays using the campus video system to encourage cafe patrons to enjoy meatless dishes prepared as main dishes for the day.


Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor host sustainability-themed meals (e.g. local harvest dinners)?:
No

A brief description of the sustainability-themed meals:

They have not done this specifically, beyond meatless Mondays, but they could.


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?:
No

A brief description of the sustainability-themed food outlet:

I am not sure what you mean by outlet.


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:

Yes, labels provide information about vegetarian and vegan options and highlight food products grown on campus.


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:

CLC has a local foods coordinator who works with the Dept. of Horticulture faculty to educate students, faculty and staff about the benefits of local foods.


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:

Fresh Ideas works with CLC to offer reusable containers food and beverages. They offer discounts to people reusing coffee cups.


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:

Fresh Ideas highlights their commitment to reducing food waste.


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:

Fresh Ideas works with CLC to offer reusable containers food and beverages. They offer discounts to people reusing coffee cups.


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:

The campus farm and community garden have a gleaning program for vegetables that they donate to the Avon Township Food Pantry.


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:

CLC has a compost program to food scraps and coffee grounds from the cafe and student kitchen.


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:

The kitchen staff and culinary students both take their pre-consumer food scraps to be composted. A portion of these food scraps are composted on campus, while the rest is hauled to a commercial composting facility.


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:

Just over this past academic year, CLC began implementing its compost program for patrons to the Cafe. These food scraps are collected and hauled to a commercial composting facility.


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:

The dining service offers reusable food containers and coffee cups. The bookstore sells reusable utensils made from bamboo.


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:

Fresh Ideas has been promoting its reusable containers, which it washes for patrons of the cafe.


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:

The cafe offers a considerable discount for "refills" of coffee, that is coffee in reusable coffee cups.


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:

Our bookstore, the LancerZone offers honey for sale that has been harvested from our campus apiary.


The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
---

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.