| Overall Rating | Silver - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 45.51 |
| Liaison | Dan DeZarn |
| Submission Date | Nov. 25, 2019 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
State University of New York at Geneseo
OP-8: Sustainable Dining
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.00 / 2.00 |
Dan
Dezarn Director of Sustainability Office of Sustainability |
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indicates that no data was submitted for this field
Part 1: Sustainable Dining Initiatives
Sustainable Dining Policy
No
A brief description of the sustainable dining policy:
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On-Campus Sourcing
Yes
A brief description of the program to source food from a campus garden or farm:
Interns at the Office of Sustainability grow various foods at the eGarden, which is a one acre plot, fueled by renewable energy. Vegetables include onions, squash, and garlic, which is used seasonally by Geneseo's dining services contractor, Campus Auxiliary Services, in various dining halls on campus.
Local Community Engagement
Yes
A brief description of the farmers market, CSA or urban agriculture project:
CAS supports the local farmers market through purchasing of local food for catering and special events.
Vegan Dining Program
Yes
A brief description of the vegan dining program:
Each of our eight restaurants and cafes across campus as well as our food truck offer at least one hot vegan entree at every meal. Many of our restaurants offer made to order options or offerings that are highly customizable allowing students to choose create a variety of delicious vegan meals. These stations include but are not limited to pasta sautes, hand tossed salads, stir-fry, sandwiches and grill items. Non-meat protein options in these areas include Gardein, tofu, beans, portabella and hummus. Two of our restaurants have vegetarian/vegan stations or complete vegetarian/vegan kitchens that provide foods tailored to students following this lifestyle.
Vegan and vegetarian lifestyles are promoted throughout the restaurants by dining services. Nutrition and Wellness boards are present in all restaurants that provide a key for the nutrition icons (including the vegan VG symbol and the vegetarian VT symbol), the nutritionist's name and contact information, and tips for how to eat healthy on campus including how to eat healthy within a vegan lifestyle. Vegan and vegetarian lifestyles are also promoted from a sustainability standpoint. Information from the Environmental Working Group is posted in the restaurants, showing the link between eating less meat and cheese and an improvement in health as well as a reduction in environmental impact.
In addition to this, our full-time on-staff nutritionist meets with a group of vegan and vegetarian students at least once a semester to discuss their specific needs and issues. These forums provide a lot of insight into the needs, wants and concerns of our vegan and vegetarian students and allows an open channel of communication.
SUNY Geneseo also received an “A” from PETA on their Vegan Report Card.
Low-Impact Dining Events
Yes
A brief description of the low impact dining events:
Meatless Mondays and Meatless Fridays at different points of the year.
Complete vegan stations are available
Sustainability-Themed Meals
Yes
A brief description of the sustainability-themed meals:
Garlic Festival at the eGarden will showcase the food grown in the eGarden and how it is used on campus.
Vegan Dinner Series highlighted the benefits of eating a vegan night and emphasizes nutritious and delicious whole foods. One of these dinners was in collaboration with the Geneseo Environmental Organization to showcase the environmental benefits of eating vegan and offered statistics.
Sustainability-Themed Outlet
Yes
A brief description of the sustainability-themed food outlet:
A trayless dining experience is the crux of food waste reduction efforts at Geneseo
Labeling and Signage
Yes
A brief description of the sustainability labeling and signage in dining halls:
Signage referring to local food purchasing and the composting program
Icons are placed next to each available items.
Outreach and Education
Yes
A brief description of the outreach efforts to support learning and research about sustainable food systems:
Workshops and curriculum support
Vegan dinner series twice each year,
Composting support efforts through workshops
Attendance at conferences such as Fair Trade and collaboration with vendors in contracting efforts that mandate things such as reduction in plastic wraps and reduction in trucking required to provide products to the campus
Other Initiatives
Yes
A brief description of the other sustainability-related dining initiatives:
Multicultural Dinners, including Caribbean Night
Nutritionist forums and presentations
Part 2: Food and Dining Waste
Food Recovery Program
No
A brief description of the food recovery competition or commitment program or food waste prevention system:
Menu Tracking and Waste Logs are utilized by the culinary teams in all of the kitchens. Menu Tracking allows the chefs to forecast their menus more accurately, allowing them to prepare only what is needed. Waste Logs are used to record any pre-consumer waste, as well as the reason for the waste – whether food is out of date, has fallen on the floor, is out of temperature and must be disposed of, or is the result of trimmings. These reports are analyzed and the results used to identify opportunities to reduce future waste.
Menu style has also played a large role in reducing pre-consumer waste. An increasing number of food stations have been converted to “made-to-order” stations that prepare each dish individually to the customer’s specifications. This allows not only for fresher, more customized dishes, but less waste in pre-prepared dishes.
A change in food service equipment also allows for more “batch cooking” in the restaurants; food is prepared and cooked in smaller portion sizes, reducing the amount of overage produced.
Trayless Dining and Portion Modifications
Yes
A brief description of the trayless dining or modified menu/portion program:
Trayless dining has been implemented in both of our pay-one-price restuarants (commonly called all-you-care-to-eat or board plan restaurants by other institutions). Portions have also been reduced in these restaurants while encouraging customers to return to the station for seconds, allowing for a more tapas style dining experience and reducing waste. In our retail restaurants, different portion size options (such as a half sandwich or panini or a “junior sized” item) are offered.
Food Donation
Yes
A brief description of the food donation program:
End of semester donations to local food pantry and to Foodlink
Food Materials Diversion
Yes
A brief description of the food materials diversion program:
All pre-consumer waste is composted
Composting
Yes
A brief description of the pre-consumer composting program:
Campus Auxiliary Services coordinates with grounds to compost all of its pre-consumer waste. CAS and grounds are continuing to look for uses for the compost as well as ways to refine it.
*Though CAS is unable to measure its pre-consumer waste in terms of percentage, CAS estimates that 14,400 pounds of pre-consumer food waste is composted each academic year.
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:
Pulper is used on post-consumer items as well as napkins prior to composting.
Fryer oil is also recycled on campus.
Dine-In Service Ware
Yes
A brief description of the reusable service ware program:
Both of our pay-on-price (otherwise known as all-you-care-to-eat) restaurants use exclusively reusable china, glasses and silverware. Our retail restaurants utilize reusable serviceware when the restaurant is laid out in a manner that allows for a dishmachine that can properly wash and sanitize reusable serviceware. A program was initiated that allowed students to purchase reusable to-go containers at cost, and return them to the restaurant to be cleaned.
Take-Away Materials
Yes
A brief description of the compostable containers and service ware:
compostable containers are used in both the to-go and catering 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:
A financial incentive is offered to encourage students and other members of the campus community to use reusable mugs in our retail restaurants. A $.25 discount is offered on all beverages when using a reusable mug or bottle; this discount applies when any style of mug or bottle is used, it does not need to be a special container that is purchased from the campus.
Other Materials Management Initiatives
Yes
A brief description of other dining services materials management initiatives:
Other programs and initiatives employed by dining services to minimize waste include utilizing napkin dispensers placed on the tables rather than a central napkin dispenser. When napkins are placed in a central location, customers tend to take more than they need so that they do not have to get back up to get more. Tests in one location saw a decrease in napkin use by 54%.
Waste vegetable oil is also currently being recycled. Currently, all waste vegetable oil generated by the fryers on campus is collected and picked up by a company that recycles the product, keeping it out of the waste stream.
Optional Fields
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Jonna Anne
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