| Overall Rating | Silver |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 49.37 |
| Liaison | Beth Klein |
| Submission Date | Feb. 5, 2025 |
State University of New York at Cortland
OP-8: Food Recovery
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.00 / 2.00 |
Megan
Swing Energy and Sustainability Engagement Coordinator Sustainability Office |
8.1 Food recovery program
Narrative and/or website URL providing an overview of the institution’s surplus food donation program:
We donate unused perishables to the local food bank, Loaves and Fishes, over extended breaks in the academic calendar.
SUNY Cortland's dining provider, Cortland Auxiliary Services (CAS), regularly donates leftover food to the Cortland Cupboard, the campus food pantry is open for students in need of food and personal hygiene items at no cost. There is no application required to access the Cupboard. Each student needs their SUNY Cortland ID card to swipe in. Part of CAS's donation is "Fulled Fridge Fridays" where leftovers from the dining halls are packaged and placed in the fridge in the Cortland Cupboard. Students receive email updates about when the fridge has been filled with food from CAS.
Do the institution’s dining services divert pre-consumer food waste from disposal for processing and use as animal feed, compost, and/or biofuel?:
Narrative and/or website URL providing an overview of the institution’s pre-consumer food waste diversion program:
Pre-Consumer food scraps are collected daily for composting and sent weekly to a local compost facility. ASC has two pulpers in our two main dining facilities, Neubig and Bistro. These pulpers capture all edible food waste and process the food waste to be picked up and ready to deliver to local compost company in area, Natural Upcycling in Lynwood, NY.
Do the institution’s dining services divert post-consumer food waste from disposal for processing and use as animal feed, compost, and/or biofuel?:
Narrative and/or website URL providing an overview of the institution’s post-consumer food waste diversion program:
ASC has two pulpers in our two main dining facilities, Neubig and Bistro. These pulpers capture all edible food waste and process the food waste to be picked up and ready to deliver to local compost company in area, Natural Upcycling in Lynwood, NY.
SUNY Cortland Dining Services uses the “LeanPath” measurement equipment and system to identify areas where food waste can be reduced.
Do the institution’s dining services track and assess their food and organic materials management efforts on at least an annual basis to inform ongoing improvements?:
Narrative and/or website URL providing an overview of the institution’s food and organic materials management tracking and assessment initiatives:
For two years CAS has reported the amount of generated waste to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) along with data on how much excess food the campus composts and donates. The report gives the campus the means to benchmark its food service sustainability progress.
CAS uses "LeanPath" conducts "LeanPath" waste reporting along with using LeanPath measurement equipment and system to identify areas where food waste can be reduced
Monthly waste log tracking with action plan - Units track purchases of perishable single use products, like parfaits and apple bowls that are made in house from Central production and order into units. Each day’s sales/ order is recorded and generally known what is wasted each night due to not being sold. Thiis information is used to reduce or increase and adjust the quantities we produce and order so that while we have offerings and availability, we are not over producing things that will just get wasted. As we collect data, we review each month and look for patterns i.e. Fridays before no football game weekends we see reduced sales… and we adjust, or Mondays after long weekends we see and increase in volume. Just a method of forecasting for the future by looking at patterns in past behaviors. This is mostly retail; in residential the Leanpath system helps us record waste and that information with our production numbers and customer counts lets us do the same thing in residential- so the next time that meal is offered we have a best guess of what amounts we need. We then prep to around-90% of that so service runs smoothly, and our customers are served- then as the day goes, we produce more as needed but the Idea is to not run out but not have too much left over. When we have waste, it gets recorded and then we know for next time. We also use this information to decide what menus are less popular and slots we can try new foods in.
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