Overall Rating Reporter - expired
Overall Score
Liaison Kathleen Hilimire
Submission Date Feb. 26, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Fort Lewis College
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete Reporter
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor have a published sustainable dining policy?:
No

A brief description of the sustainable dining policy:
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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:

Sodexo has a standing contract with the Old Fort gardens and farms each week of the school year. Additionally, they purchase produce from the Environmental Center’s Campus Garden and orchard as it is available.


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:

Fort Lewis College hosts a weekly Old Fort Farmstand during the school year that features produce from our campus farm as well as products from their incubator farmers. The Old Fort also offers a CSA and specially-designed student CSA’s that contain produce tailored to student diets and cooking abilities. The Environmental Center’s Local Food Security Initiative is a ten-year strong commitment to local food security and community engagement. They host regional events on- and off-campus to advance food security, are a co-sponsor in a new regional Food Hub endeavor, host a Gleaning Initiative, host Fall and Spring Crop Mobs and partner on several different food distribution projects.


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:

Sodexo provides daily vegan and vegetarian options. At every meal, vegan/vegetarian options are provided in the "Simple Servings Area". Additionally, vegan and vegetarian options are provided in other areas of the cafeteria and labeled using plastic placards.

Sodexo provides weekly menus that include graphical representations of nutrition factors. These menus are provided on screens in the dining facility and in hard-copy on sneeze guards. A sample vegetarian menu is provided below (for 1/1/16):

Breakfast: Apple cinnamon oatmeal, grits, omelet bar, fired eggs, scrambled eggs, glazed cinnamon roll, low-fat blueberry muffin

Lunch: Vegetarian minestrone soup, cheese quesadilla, French fries, grilled cheese sandwich, black bean burger, made-to-order deli bar, Tuscan pesto Portobello wrap, snowshoe cheese pizza, baked potato bar, black bean salsa, hummus, fried tortilla chips

Dinner: Vegetarian minestrone, herb seasoned breadsticks, French fries, deli sandwich buffet, salad bar station, steamed corn, mac and cheese, penne pasta, arrabiata sauce, vegetarian paelle with edamame, vegetarian chili, showshoe cheese pizza, devil's food cake, peach cobbler with biscuit topping, butterscotch pudding cup, berry blue Jell-O Parfait, Baked potato bar, hummus, black bean salsa, fried tortilla chips


Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor host low impact dining events (e.g. Meatless Mondays)?:
No

A brief description of the low impact dining events:
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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:

The Environmental Center partners with Sodexo to offer a ‘real’ meal featuring all real foods during Freshman Orientation. Additionally, throughout the year, the Environmental Center features ‘real’ and vegetarian meals during their Fall REEL Environmental Film Experience and their Sustainability Summit. The EC has also worked with the Native American Center to acquire ‘real’ catering for NAC Events.


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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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:

Sodexo is formally committed to providing Real Food labels on all foods that are presented in campus dining that contain real food ingredients.


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:

Fort Lewis College has a number of ways that it provides opportunities to learn about and research sustainable foods. Academic courses in Public Health, Environmental Studies and Sociology focus on food systems, food security, food waste, soil, etc. Additionally, the Environmental Center’s Local Food Security initiative engages over 400 students each year in its garden, greenhouse and orchard, as well as, another 250 each year in workshops, events and activities centered around sustainable food issues. This reach if further extended by the Real Food Challenge initiative, whose Vote Real Initiative engages 800 students each year in sustainable foods education and which has a daily presence in our dining outlets


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)?:
No

A brief description of the other sustainability-related dining initiatives:
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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 the Lean Path waste tracking system to track pre-consumer food waste and has implemented a variety of waste-minimizing strategies, including:

- Batch cooking
- Strategic planning for over- or under-production
- Create awareness and engagement among employees by talking about ways to combat waste in two of the daily huddles per week
- Creative safe ways to repurpose leftovers (i.e. cool leftover coffee and sell as iced coffee beverages, save and freeze vegetable and meat trim to make stock, use crust and leftover bread to make croutons, use leftovers to create soup of the day)


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:

We have trayless dining in the only dining hall on campus.


Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor donate food that would otherwise go to waste to feed people?:
No

A brief description of the food donation program:
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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:

Sodexo donates its used fryer oil to a company in Farmington that processes it into Biodiesel.


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:

FLC has invested in an industrial in-vessel composter, the Rocket Composter, and runs a composting program that composts tens of thousands of pounds of food waste each year. The compost produced is then used on campus at the Environmental Center's organic garden and orchard.


Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor have a post-consumer composting program?:
No

A brief description of the post-consumer composting program:
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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:

FLC provides reusable service ware for "dine in" meals at campus dining facilities.


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:

FLC distributes reusable takeout containers and cups to use at campus dining facilities.


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:

FLC on-campus coffee shops offer a $0.30 discount on coffee purchases that are made using a reusable mug.


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)?:
No

A brief description of other dining services materials management initiatives:
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The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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