Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 46.40
Liaison David Heithaus
Submission Date Jan. 20, 2021

STARS v2.2

Kenyon College
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.68 / 2.00
"---" 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?:
No

A brief description of the farmers market, CSA or urban agriculture project:
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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:
AVI, our campus food provider has themed it's entire operation around local, sustainable procurement. They do a fantastic job supporting a network of small producers and communicating their efforts and successes to the campus community.

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:
AVI does a fantastic job supporting a network of small producers and communicating their efforts and successes to the campus community. Their work has been encouraged and supported by college operations for over fifteen years.

Estimated percentage of total food and beverage expenditures on products from disadvantaged businesses, social enterprises, and/or local SMEs:
40

Low-impact dining

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor host low impact dining events or promote plant-forward options?:
No

A brief description of the low impact dining events and/or plant-forward options:
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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:
Vegan food is available at each meal.

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:
Foods that are sourced locally are labelled as such.

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:
Students drop their plates directly onto the dishroom carousel. The Trayless program has reduced over 10 tons of waste annually since 2010. It also reduces daily water usage and energy from the dish machine by not washing thousands of trays everyday. The plates are scraped and all the food and paper is sent down the food trough. The food and paper from the dishroom flow down through the pulper to the lower level of Peirce on the dock. The pulper squeezes the water out of the mix of food and paper and shreds it into a rolling cart. Kenyon maintenance retrieves the food waste from the pulper cart in Peirce Hall. The waste is taken to the Kenyon compost pile where the ingredients decompose into simple compounds for 6-10 months. Maintenance turns and moves the compost as needed to prepare it for its next step. The compost is transformed into nutrient-rich, microbe-loaded, dark brown compost and mulch.

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 are 100% trayless on the board plan except for disabled students and guests to the dining hall.

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:
Food and box lunches are donated at extended breaks to local relief organizations.

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 food waste collected in our single dining hall is composted at our on-campus class II facility. It is mixed with ground woody debris collected from campus and used as mulch in the many campus garden beds. Material ground to a finer sized particles is used as top dressing on athletic fields. The college has not purchased mulch for over ten years.

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:
Pre-consumer food waste is pulped and taken to our Class II Compost site.

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:
Postconsumer food waste is pulped and taken to our Class II Compost site.

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:
Most meals feature metal silverware, reusable plastic cups, and reusable plastic plates/bowls to reduce waste from the dining hall. Students also donate mugs to the dining hall to be used and reused for hot beverages, called the Sustain-a-mugs Program which piloted during the 2015-2016 academic year.

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)?:
No

A brief description of the compostable containers and service ware:
---

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:
---

Optional Fields

A brief description of other sustainability-related initiatives not covered above:
The dining hall has an international station and a vegetarian station to promote these diets.

Website URL where information about the sustainable dining programs is available:
http://www.kenyon.edu/about-kenyon/sustainability/local-food/farm-to-fork/

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