Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 81.45
Liaison Lindsey Lyons
Submission Date March 1, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Dickinson College
OP-7: Food and Beverage Purchasing

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.51 / 6.00 Lindsey Lyons
Assistant Director
Center for Sustainability Education
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Percentage of dining services food and beverage expenditures on products that are third party verified under one or more recognized food and beverage sustainability standards or Local & Community-Based:
9.60

Does the institution wish to pursue Part 2 of this credit (expenditures on conventional animal products)? (If data is not available, respond “No”):
Yes

Percentage of total dining services food and beverage expenditures on conventional animal products (meat, poultry, fish/seafood, eggs, and dairy products that do NOT qualify in either the Third Party Verified or Local & Community-Based category):
44

A brief description of the sustainable food and beverage purchasing program, including how the sustainability impacts of products in specific categories are addressed (e.g. meat, poultry, fish/seafood, eggs, dairy, produce, tea/coffee):
All produce needs are checked against the weekly availability list provided by the Dickinson College Farm; when available, those products are purchased from the Farm. When not available from our farm our sustainability dining vendor policy is enacted. We prefer working with vendors who have well-developed sustainability statements, policies, and practices. Decision-making related to the selection of vendors with whom we do business, how we choose the products we use, and our preferences for equipment and materials used in our facilities will always include important sustainability factors such as those found in LEED certification programs and that will support today’s goals and objectives as well as those of tomorrow. Following are brief descriptions of considerations important to us: Employee welfare Animal welfare Energy consumption Water use and conservation Local and community based producers and products Compostable, Recycling, and Landfill Diversion Food and beverages should be naturally wholesome Public Safety We expect our vendors to be able to provide us with the sourcing details of the products they provide us: from where and when did products come, from whom and how, the miles travelled to be processed and the miles to get to us. We prefer to use producers, farms, and processors located within 250 miles of our campus. We prefer to source products from producers who are third-party certified such as Fair Trade Certified™, Marine Stewardship Council™ Certified, Rainforest Alliance Certified, Food Alliance Certified, Protected Harvest, Salmon Safe, Certified Humane Raised and Handled® We prefer to source products from producers who are small to mid-sized and are more than 50 percent owned by socially or economically disadvantaged individuals, minorities and/or women.

An inventory of the institution’s sustainable food and beverage purchases that includes for each product: the description/type; label, brand or producer; and the category in which it is being counted and/or a description of its sustainability attribute(s):
A brief description of the methodology used to conduct the inventory, including the timeframe and how representative samples accounted for seasonal variation (if applicable):
Dickinson College Center for Sustainability Education checks DDS purchases against a confirmed list of sustainable, local, organic etc. vendors annually for the fiscal year prior purchases. Each fiscal year we update our list of sustainable vendors, and apply this to a custom template built which can calculate % local & community based, % third party verified, % local, and weights of food by category so we can calculate carbon and nitrogen footprints from our food and beverage purchases.

Percentage of total dining services expenditures on Real Food A (0-100):
---

Percentage of total dining services expenditures on Real Food B (0-100):
---

Which of the following food service providers are present on campus and included in the total food and beverage expenditure figures?:
Present? Included?
Dining operations and catering services operated by the institution Yes Yes
Dining operations and catering services operated by a contractor No No
Student-run food/catering services No No
Franchises (e.g. national or global brands) No No
Convenience stores Yes No
Vending services Yes No
Concessions Yes No

A brief description of purchased food and beverage products that have other sustainability attributes not recognized above :
Dickinson College estimates another 7% of food that is local, but not community-based. We due make an effort to prioritize distance in reducing overall carbon and nitrogen impacts. So, although these items/vendors are not included in this inventory, we do think they are an effort in the right direction.

Additional percentage of dining services food and beverage expenditures on conventional products with other sustainability attributes not recognized above (0-100) :
7

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:
Dickinson Dining Services is committed to the future in our procurement practices of today so that we may continually improve our practices in all that we do. We look to the future to contribute to a healthy environment for our guests, for ourselves and our families, and to leave a positive legacy that we owe to future generations. Food and beverage purchasing is critical to advancing these goals, and we hope to continue to work sourcing more local and community-based options each year.

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.