Overall Rating Silver
Overall Score 59.20
Liaison Elaine Durr
Submission Date Feb. 27, 2024

STARS v2.2

Elon University
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00 Carrie Ryan
Assistant Vice President
Auxiliary 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:
Elon Dining held a Farmers Market in Spring 2023, which allowed Elon University students, faculty and staff to purchase local products. The Farmers Market accepted all tenders, including Phoenix Cash, Food Dollars and Meal Dollars, encouraging the university community to purchase local produce, animal proteins and artisan goods through Elon Dining.
Elon Dining hosts Farm Table Dinners for students on campus that feature local ingredients and highlight local growers and food industry workers.
Elon Dining also houses two hydroponic Babylon Microfarms on campus that are used to grow basil that is used to make pesto in the dining halls.

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?:
No

A brief description of the sustainability-themed food outlet:
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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?:
Yes

A brief description of the support for disadvantaged businesses, social enterprises, and/or local SMEs:
Elon Dining continuously seeks out small, local and disadvantaged businesses through community partnerships and local food hubs.

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:
Elon Dining hosts multiple Farm Table meals throughout the year, serving only seasonal ingredients sourced from within a 150 mile radius. Elon Dining holds regular outreach events to educate the student body on environmental benefits of local, plant forward dining, as well as how to create nutritious plant forward meals. Elon Dining also offers Coolfood certified meals in their menus, which are low-carbon meals that are also nutritiously balanced. Elon Dining has also partnered with the Eco-Reps for a variety of events, including “scrappy cooking” which utilized leftover scraps to make food and “sustainable sipping” which featured vegan drinks and food options, as well as crafting with leftover food (e.g., orange slices for the holidays).

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:
Residential dining facilities have vegan options available 3x/day. All dining halls have a separate area for vegan options, including soups and desserts. In addition, vegan items are highlighted on all menus, with recipe filters that can be viewed in the dining hall or online. Dining halls have non-dairy milk options and a variety of vegan proteins on the salad and deli stations. There are also vegan options in several of the retail locations.

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:
There are digital boards with basic nutritional information along with vegetarian, vegan and local identifiers, as well as Coolfood Meal indicators. In addition, there is rotating signage in all locations to inform guests of plant forward and local products.

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:
Elon Dining uses LeanPath to collect daily back of house food waste data. Before being composted, all food scraps and prep waste is weighed, and team members enter details on the product being weighed. Once a week the numbers are reviewed with the employees and additional training is done if needed. LeanPath allows chef managers to identify commonly wasted food items and cost to weight ratios.
Elon Dining also aims to prevent plate waste by encouraging students to “just try it” in the dining halls, essentially allowing guests to customize their portion size on served stations to avoid creating plate waste.

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:
Elon Dining incorporated trayless dining during the 2007-2008 academic year and continues to be trayless in all dining locations.

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:
Campus Kitchen at Elon University (CKEU) provides meals to community partners. CKEU is a service opportunity through the Kernodle Center for Civic Life for students, faculty and staff. CKEU collects food from Elon Dining Services, Loy Farm and other community partners.
Elon Dining also donates food items that would otherwise go to waste over breaks to local community partners.

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:
Elon Dining uses a vendor that collects used fryer oil to be recycled into biofuel.

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 halls, retail locations and food prep stations have a pre-consumer food waste composting program. Beginning in 2008, all organic material is composted by a local family operation. Elon Dining staff members are responsible for separating the compostables in the kitchen, and leadership holds bi-annual training on compost guidelines.

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 dining locations, as well as many campus buildings have post-consumer compost bins for organic waste. Guests are responsible for separating the compostables in retail settings. There are designated bins with signage on the bin and in some locations above the bin (including photos or actual serviceware items). In the dining halls, Elon Dining staff members separate all organic waste that comes into the dish room into compost 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:
Elon Dining uses reusable serviceware in all residential dining facilities.
Elon Dining also offers a reusable green to-go box system at residential locations. Guests who want to take food to-go must use a green box as there are no single use to-go containers in residential locations.

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:
Elon Dining offers a reusable green to-go box system at residential locations. Guests who want to take food to-go must use a green box as there are no single use to-go containers in residential locations.
Every student, faculty and staff member with any level of meal plan is eligible to opt in to the reusable green to-go program for free. Elon Dining uses Topanga.io’s ReusePass system to manage this program.
Many retail locations have compostable cups, containers and lids. Compost bins are available in all retail dining locations and multiple other locations across campus.

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?:
No

A brief description of the reusable container discount or incentives program:
There are no discounts or incentives in-place for reusable containers; however, Elon Dining does encourage the use of reusable cups and mugs at all dining locations by promoting the “Choose To Reuse” campaign.

Optional Fields

A brief description of other sustainability-related initiatives not covered above:
Elon Dining prioritizes ingredients that are additive free, responsibly sourced, locally procured, made from scratch and nutritionally balanced. Seasonal menus are expertly created and overseen by chefs, a registered dietitian and a sustainability coordinator. Chef inspired menus are made with high-quality, locally sourced ingredients and are scratch cooked. Clean, health-conscious choices are provided, and nutritional information is available online for all menu items. Elon Dining has an ongoing partnership with Elon University’s on campus farm, Loy Farm, and has hired a full-time farm manager. The farm manager regulates a hoop house and production fields to produce specifically planned and grown for residential dining hall use. Additionally, Elon Dining partners with Loy Farm to educate students and chefs alike on regional agricultural methods and varieties. Elon Dining staff make quarterly visits to local farms and producers to learn more about production methods and communicate processes to the Elon student body. Elon Dining is encouraging innovative programs that foster engagement, such as partnerships with campus sustainability groups, culturally specific cooking classes, student informed recipe development and nutritional education. April is focused on Earth month, the benefits of plant forward eating and buying locally/eating seasonally. Vegetarian, vegan, made without gluten and Smart Choice options are available and labeled as such.

Website URL where information about the sustainable dining programs is available:
http://www.elondining.com/sustainability

Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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