Overall Rating Platinum - expired
Overall Score 88.31
Liaison James Gordon
Submission Date May 31, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Thompson Rivers University
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00 James Gordon
Environmental Programs and Research Coordinator
TRU Office of Environment and Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1: Sustainable Dining Initiatives 

Sustainable Dining Policy

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor have a published sustainable dining policy?:
No

A brief description of the sustainable dining policy:
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On-Campus Sourcing 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor source food from a campus garden or farm?:
Yes

A brief description of the program to source food from a campus garden or farm:
Aramark grows herbs and salad greens in their on site urban cultivator. The Aramark-run "Urban Market" has fresh ingredients in its food because, after careful harvesting, their chefs directly add the urban cultivated crops to their food. Additionally, the Culinary Arts department has an herb garden, which they regularly use for their cooking classes and in their meals for the Scratch Cafe.

Local Community Engagement 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor host a farmers market, community supported agriculture (CSA) or fishery program, and/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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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:
Aramark identifies vegan entree options in its menus and through other types of signage whenever they are available. On top of this, they always have choices of salads, fruit options, nuts, and often various cooked grain/vegetable dishes (for example, rice and/or quinoa). They also introduced “Vegetarian Wednesdays” during the 2016-2017 school year. In November 2017, they introduced the Dietary-friendly Selections program (http://inside.tru.ca/2017/11/24/dietary-friendly-food-selections/) which offers vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free and halal options in the nine food-service outlets it operates on campus. TRU's Culinary Arts Program indicates on their menu when an entrée is vegan. They also have an extensive salad bar open every lunch, which features several vegan options, including complete-protein options. Their two or three daily soup options also often have vegan choices.

Low-Impact Dining Events 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor host low impact dining events (e.g. Meatless Mondays)?:
Yes

A brief description of the low impact dining events:
One of the main campus food service outlets, Urban Market (run by Aramark), has had several "Meatless Mondays" events during the last three years.

Sustainability-Themed Meals 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor host sustainability-themed meals (e.g. local harvest dinners)?:
Yes

A brief description of the sustainability-themed meals:
TRU Ancillary Services has hosted several events over the last three years that use as many local food products as possible during a three-course plated lunch for 10-15 people. Also, the Culinary Arts department supports the Thompson Shuswap Chef Farmers Collaborative and FARM2CHEFSFarm2Chefs. Each year FARM2CHEFS Farm2Chefs hosts a “grazing event” that Culinary Arts participates in.

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 TRU Retail Meat Store, which is part of the TRU Culinary Arts program, offers only locally produced meats from the region, most of which are raised to strong sustainability-based standards (free-run, no antibiotics, etc.). All beef, pork, chicken, lamb and fish (seasonal) comes from local ranchers, farmers and producers in the region, and is processed on the campus by students and staff in the Retail Meat Cutting program, and sold to TRU and community customers from its retail outlet. See "Sustainability-related aspects of meats" section on site: https://www.tru.ca/culinary-arts/retail-and-services/retail-meat-store.html

Labeling and Signage 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor inform customers about low impact food choices and sustainability practices through labeling and signage in dining halls?:
Yes

A brief description of the sustainability labeling and signage in dining halls:
TRUSU's Common Grounds Cafe has biodegradable cutlery, compostable coffee and soup cups made from 100% renewable resources, and locally roasted, certified organic coffee, which are all either labeled or have visible signage. All Aramark-run dining service outlets on campus have vegetarian, vegan, and halal labeling, with the following signage: https://inside.tru.ca/2017/11/24/dietary-friendly-food-selections/

Outreach and Education 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor engage in outreach efforts to support learning and research about sustainable food systems?:
Yes

A brief description of the outreach efforts to support learning and research about sustainable food systems:
The Culinary Arts program has learning about sustainable food systems as a key component of its teaching to all students. From the program website: "Farm to table - TRU Culinary Arts approaches cuisine from a community-driven, farm to table approach, with much of our food being local, regional and sustainable. We tour and source from local farms for fresh herbs, fruit and produce, meat and more."

Other Initiatives 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor have other sustainability-related initiatives (e.g. health and wellness initiatives, making culturally diverse options available)?:
Yes

A brief description of the other sustainability-related dining initiatives:
TRU's annual International Days event in March (IDays) is a week-long event all over campus that celebrates and educates about the many diverse cultures that are on the TRU campus each year, and food is a central part of this education and celebration. The culmination of this sharing of the value and appreciation of wide-ranging foods and food choices is expressed in the final event, where a variety of entertainment from all over the world is mirrored in the types of foods offered and enjoyed. https://www.tru.ca/internationaldays.html

Part 2: Food and Dining Waste 

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?:
No

A brief description of the food recovery competition or commitment program or food waste prevention system:
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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:
TRU Food Services has a tray-less dining system to minimize food waste, conserve energy and water and reduce the amount of cleaning chemicals entering the waste stream.

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:
When possible, excess food from Culinary Arts (CU) is donated to the Kamloops Mission (social assistance and housing program for men) or Kamloops Food Bank. The food bank comes to pick up the surplus perishable food supplies at the end of each semester from CU, or before they are closed for an extended period (example: Reading Break).

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 (e.g. converting cooking oil to fuel, on-site anaerobic digestion)?:
Yes

A brief description of the food materials diversion program:
A local animal food manufacturing facility from the regional town of Grindrod, BC picks up the used cooking oil from the main campus kitchen regularly to use in their manufacturing process.

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:
TRU is fully engaged in pre-consumer composting with the use of two JORA 5100 in-vessel composters. Food scraps deposited into bins by faculty and students who are preparing food in the TRU Culinary Arts Program and the main Aramark kitchen is collected by the janitorial staff, processed in the composters, and the resulting compost is used on the campus grounds as fertilizer.

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:
TRU is fully engaged throughout the campus in post-consumer composting with the use of two JORA 5100 in-vessel composters. Food scraps from faculty, staff and students (banana peels, apple cores, tea bags, etc.) are deposited in compost bins all over campus (which are part of the Zero Waste Stations) and then collected three times a week by the janitorial staff. These straps are then deposited into the Jora composters, and then the end result--compost--is used on the campus grounds as fertilizer. As well, TRU Culinary Arts and several campus coffee shops provide coffee grounds and food scraps that are picked up twice a week by a local farmer.

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:
In addition to the above-mentioned composting by Common Grounds, both main food preparation operations on campus (TRU Culinary Arts and Aramark), and, to a lesser extent, the student union run cafe/restaurant (Common Grounds), all offer regular reusable china and metal cutlery for many meal and catering functions.

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:
All food service outlets use only compostable to-go coffee cups, clamshell containers, and soup bowls. These to-go items will soon be able to be composted in a new industrial-strength anaerobic digester called The Rocket.

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:
Common Grounds coffee shop offers a 50 cent discount to any students who bring their own reusable mugs. Culinary Arts offers a 15% discount for reusable mugs. Aramark offers a 25 cent discount to students who bring their own mug, and Starbucks and Tim Horton's offer a 10 cent discount for bringing a reusable mug.

Other Materials Management Initiatives 

Has the institution or its primary dining services contractor implemented other materials management initiatives to minimize waste not covered above (e.g. working with vendors and other entities to reduce waste from food packaging)?:
Yes

A brief description of other dining services materials management initiatives:
The Culinary Arts building encourages TRU community members to dine-in and use reusable dining wares by charging an additional $0.50 fee to take "to go" food containers. Also, several years ago during the annual Back-To-School BBQ each September, TRU Food Services started only offering napkins for students getting a burger instead of using paper plates. This resulted in a massive decrease in the amount of waste, since most napkins could be composted. The plates could not be composted due to the mechanical limitations of the industrial composters. As well, using napkins takes far less energy to create than plates and are less expensive.

Optional Fields 

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
http://www.tru.ca/campus/life/food-services/did-you-know/sustainability.html

Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
All dollar amounts are in Canadian. Data and information came from the TRU website, as well as Jessica Papineau (Aramark), and Paul Murphy (Culinary Arts)

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.