Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 67.33
Liaison James Biesecker
Submission Date Nov. 1, 2022

STARS v2.2

Gettysburg College
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00 Mike Bishop
Assoc. Director Dining Services
Dining
"---" 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:
Gettysburg College hosts the Painted Turtle Farm, a CSA for the campus community.

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:
The Dining Center offers an outlet that is themed "Smart Eats" that provides plant based foods at both lunch and dinner daily.

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:
All of our Ground Beef and Burgers come from a local farmer called Stone Ridge Manor. All of our shell eggs come from Weikert's egg farm which is less than 5 miles from campus and all of our apples are locally sourced from multiple orchards in our county. We also source more seasonal fruits from them when available.

Estimated percentage of total food and beverage expenditures on products from disadvantaged businesses, social enterprises, and/or local SMEs:
8

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:
Our retail dining location does Meatless Monday, where the special for the day are different types of plant based foods that can be combined into a bowl for both lunch and dinner. Some "main" items include grilled tofu, vegan chicken, and different types of rice and beans.

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:
We offer a minimum of 3 vegan items per meal. This does not include the vegan items that are available each day as staples i.e. vegan meats and cheese, soy milk, all the items that can be found on the salad bar and fruit bar. In addition to vegan items, there are also many vegetarian items available for students on a daily basis.

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:
Items on our web based menu and our screen based menu show a designation when they are from local sources.

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:
We are a trayless facility and also have a pulper for post consumer and kitchen waste to be reduced significantly and then what is left is put into a machine to dehydrate it and turns it into a soil ammendment.

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 do not have trays on campus at all. Items in the main dining center are limited to one plate at a time to limit the amount of food waste in our facilities. Our retail dining locations also offer many reusable containers for beverages and entrees.

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 dining hall regularly donates unused leftover food to the Campus Kitchen Project, a student-run community kitchen founded in 2007 by student Louisa Polos'08 after a service-learning trip to DC Central Kitchen. The mission of the Campus Kitchens Project is to use service as a tool to:
* Strengthen Bodies by using existing resources to meet hunger and nutritional needs in the community;
* Empower Minds by providing leadership and service-learning opportunities to students, and educational benefits to adults, seniors, children, and families; and
* Build Communities by fostering a new generation of community-minded adults through resourceful and mutually beneficial partnerships among students, social service agencies, businesses and schools.

Since November 2007, the Campus Kitchen has rescued over 20,000 pounds of food and served over 10,000 meals.

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:
All fryer oil on campus is recycled through a recycled oil vendor who picks up and takes away are used oil. We also have an Ecovim machine that converts our post consumer and kitchen food waste into soil ammendment which is used on campus.

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:
We collect pre-consumer waste for the student garden on campus. Waste is collected by volunteers or student interns, who move the waste from the dining center to the garden with wheelbarrows.

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:
The dining center has a an Ecovim Decomposition system which turns post consumer and kitchen waste into soil amendment.

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:
Our main dining center uses only reusable plates, glasses, and silverware for service. Our retail dining center also offers reusable plates, bowls, glasses, and silverware as an alternative to packaged items. Retail Dining also offers a reusable "to go" container program.

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:
Retail dining currently offers a reusable container program for to go meals.

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:
Reusable travel mugs and Nalgene/refillable water bottles can be used for coffee, tea, and drinks. When these more sustainable options are used, customers receive a 25-cent discount at two of our dining locations.

Optional Fields

A brief description of other sustainability-related initiatives not covered above:
Gettysburg college dining services has taken away plastic bags as a free option from dining services and charges $.10 per bag which has reduced the amount of bags used in a year by almost 90%.

Website URL where information about the sustainable dining programs is available:
http://www.gettysburg.edu/about/offices/fa/dining/standards.dot

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