Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 69.32
Liaison Ian Johnson
Submission Date June 3, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Colorado College
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00 Cassidy Schnell
Bon Appetit Outreach Coordinator
Bon Appetit
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1: Sustainable Dining Initiatives 

Sustainable Dining Policy

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

A brief description of the sustainable dining policy:
Bon Appetit is committed to healthy and sustainable dining at Colorado College. Bon Appetit was the first food service company to commit to supporting local agriculture, only serving seafood that meets Seafood Watch sustainability guidelines for commercial buyers, reducing antibiotic use in farm animals, serving rBGH-free milk, cage free shell and cage free liquid eggs, addressing farmworker's rights, serving humanely-raised ground beef, phasing out pork raised with gestation crates and generally addressing and tackling food's role in climate change.

On-Campus Sourcing 

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:
The Colorado College Farm grows fruits and vegetables on their 1.3 acre farm that are served in Rastall dining hall.

Local Community Engagement 

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?:
No

A brief description of the farmers market, CSA or urban agriculture project:
---

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:
Colorado College provides a vast vegan dining program that is accessible to all members of the campus community. Rastall Café includes a designated vegan station with diverse and complete-protein items and at least one vegan desert option at every meal. Rastall provides labels for vegan and vegetarian items and participates in “Meatless Mondays” by serving only vegetarian items on Monday evenings. Vegan options are also included in the grab-and-go program, available at Colorado Coffee, the Preserve, and Local Goods.

Low-Impact Dining Events 

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:
Colorado College implements almost Meatless Mondays at Rastall Dining Hall per student request.

Sustainability-Themed Meals 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor host sustainability-themed meals (e.g. local harvest dinners)?:
Yes

A brief description of the sustainability-themed meals:
Bon Appetit partners with the CC Farm to put on the annual Harvest Banquet which is a sustainability focused meal for students, faculty, staff, and community members.

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:
Sustainable food options are a part of each cafe menu on campus.

Labeling and Signage 

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:
All food offered in cafes on campus are marked according to "Farm to Fork" principles, Seafood Watch, vegan, dairy free, etc.

Outreach and Education 

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:
Bon Appetit has hosted "Healthy Kids in Bon Appetit Kitchens," cooking classes as well as hosting educational opportunities paired with cooking classes for under privileged children.

Other Initiatives 

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:
Bon Appetit hosts events such as Food For Your Well-Being, Eat Local Challenge, Farmworkers Awareness Week, Earth Day, Fair Trade & Seafood, African American History Month, Lunar New Year, Luau and others.

Part 2: Food and Dining Waste 

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:
The team at Bon Appetit works hard every day to train and monitor food production in the CC kitchens every day. It conducts daily meetings with its staff to discuss food, safety and upcoming events. These meetings often times includes the chefs pulling the compost containers located at each prep station to discuss the level of food scraps, how the cooks can utilize product better and which vegetable scraps can be utilized in our house made soup stock. This program has shown great rewards in that Bon Appetit see very little unusable produce scrap being sent to compost. Its chefs and staff rotate stock daily under the first in, first out model of food usage.

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:
Trayless dining was implemented on the Colorado College campus in 2008 in an effort to reduce food waste.

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:
The Colorado Springs Food Rescue, a student-run organization founded in 2013, uses bike trailers to transport perishable food being thrown away in the community, including the buffet leftovers from Rastall Dining Hall, to charities and non-profits that serve at-risk or hungry individuals.

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 (e.g. converting cooking oil to fuel, on-site anaerobic digestion)?:
Yes

A brief description of the food materials diversion program:
Oils from the kitchens on campus are used in on campus bio-diesel vehicles and an off site oil recycling company.

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:
Colorado College contracts a local company, Bestway Disposal, to collect pre-consumer food waste from all dining services operations and bathroom waste bins.

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:
Colorado College contracts a local company, Bestway Disposal, to collect post-consumer food waste from all dining services operations and bathroom waste 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:
Reusable service ware is available at Rastall Dining Hall and recyclable and compostable service ware are available at Benjis and the Preserve. Bon Appetit is working with the Sustainability office and student government to revitalize the discount program for reusable containers in the cafes.

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:
Rastall Dining Hall offers a reusable to-go container that can be purchased with meal plan dollars.

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:
Dining services offer a discount to customers who use a reusable mug or beverage container.

Other Materials Management Initiatives 

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:
Often, at Rastall Dining Hall, kitchen staff will take meat dishes away from the serve yourself style buffet and will instead serve the meat themselves to customers using portion sizes suggested by the FDA. This method helps to reduce food waste.

Optional Fields 

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
http://coloradocollege.cafebonappetit.com/

Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
While Colorado College does not 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, Bon Appetit purchases directly from local producers such as AVOG, Emerge, CornerPost Farm, Tap Roots Food Hub, etc,.

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.