Overall Rating	Reporter - expired
Overall Score
Liaison	Kathleen Hilimire
Submission Date	Feb. 1, 2021

STARS v2.2

Fort Lewis College
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

Status	Score	Responsible Party
	Reporter	Kathleen Hilimire Assistant Professor Environmental Studies

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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:

Fort Lewis College hosts a weekly Old Fort Farmstand during the school year that features produce from our campus-affiliated farm as well as products from their incubator farmers. The Old Fort also offers a CSA and reduced-price student CSA’s. The Environmental Center’s student-driven Local Food Security Initiative hosts on-campus events and workshop to enhance food security and gardening literacy, and host weekly workdays in the on-campus growing spaces.

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?:

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:

Sodexo supports a local coffee roaster by providing their products in the dining hall and cafes. Sodexo also purchases produce from our campus-affiliated farm, some of which is grown by farmers-in-training and incubator farmers in grant-funded agricultural programs.

Estimated percentage of total food and beverage expenditures on products from disadvantaged businesses, social enterprises, and/or local SMEs:

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:

The dining service provider (Sodexo) hosts a real-meal at orientation for incoming students and their families every Fall.

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:

Sodexo provides daily vegan and vegetarian options. At every meal, vegan options are provided in the "Vegan Bar". Additionally, vegan 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 vegan menu is provided below (for 3/3/20):

Breakfast: Scrambled Tofu, Grits, breakfast cereals, fruit, milk alternatives

Lunch: French Fries, Roasted Tomato Tortilla Soup, Sauteed Broccoli& Garlic, Vegan Bar: includes: Steamed kamut, roasted red pepper humus, black beans frijoles negros, roasted green peppers, plain baked potato, carrot and celery sticks.

Dinner: Brown Rice, Baked tater tot, barley pilaf with mushrooms and peas, Mixed greens pizza, spicy slow roasted peppers and onions, baked sweet potato,
Fresh salad bar.

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:

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

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:

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)

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:

We trayless dining in the only dining hall on campus. We also have reusable (and returnable) to-go boxes available upon request for customers to transport excess food out of the dining hall so it does not go to 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:

Campus dining provides a weekly hot lunch, distributed through our on-campus food pantry.
Campus Dining also provides a program called "Pay it Forward FLC", where students, staff, and faculty can donate unused meals on their meal plan to be re-distributed to students in need.

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:

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

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:

FLC has invested in an industrial in-vessel composter, the Rocket Composter, and runs a composting program for all pre- and post- consumer food waste produced in the dining hall.This produces roughly 4 tons of compost, yearly. The compost produced is then used on campus at the Environmental Center's garden and orchard.
Campus dining also uses a private compost contractor for excess volume of food waste that is unable to be utilized by our on-site industrial composter.

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:

See "brief description of pre-consumer composting program".

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:

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

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:

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 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.

Optional Fields

A brief description of other sustainability-related initiatives not covered above:

Campus Dining offers a mug-share program, collecting donated ceramic coffee mugs that diners can take with them when they exit the dining hall, and are encouraged to return the mugs (and donate more coffee mugs) when they use the dining hall again.
Campus Dining also uses "zero-waste" catering for the majority of on-campus catering events. Catering utilizes reusable serving-ware, smaller plates (to eliminate post-consumer food-waste), and self-serve bus bins where attendees separate their compostable food waste from any disposable items.

Website URL where information about the sustainable dining programs is available:

https://www.fortlewis.edu/about-flc/initiatives/sustainability/sustainability-on-campus/food-and-agriculture

Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Note: responsible party should list: Sadie Magnifico, srmagnifico@fortlewis.edu, Assistant Coordinator, Environmental Center, (970)247-7676

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