University of Alberta
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

ARAMARK SUSTAINABILITY COMMITMENT http://www.liveitgood.ca/sustainability/Our-Commitment.html The institution's primary dining contractor, Aramark, has committed to sourcing and serving more responsible and sustainable foods. This includes purchasing more local, ecological and humane foods, sustainable seafood and Fair Trade and Rain Forest Alliance certified products. AUGUSTANA CAMPUS SUSTAINABLE FOOD POLICY https://www.ualberta.ca/augustana/about-us/departments-offices-and-units/lab/sustainability/campus-initiatives/food. Augustana Campus' self-operated dining services are guided by the following commitments: - To provide safe, fresh and nutritious food; - To contribute to the economic, social and environmental sustainability of our home region and the planet, through balanced and responsible procurement decisions; and, - To cultivate within our academic community both a critical awareness of food issues and a sense of celebration around food that is inclusive of the many cultural traditions represented among our students. To the extent that it is practical, Augustana Campus Dining Services prefers to purchase food that is produced within approximately 200 km, before looking to provincial, national and global sources; and to purchase from farmers and processors who are taking steps towards sustainability.

FARMERS' MARKET http://su.ualberta.ca/services/sustainsu/projects/farmersmarket/ Hosted by the Students' Union, the University of Alberta Farmers' Market is open to the public and runs weekly from September to April. The market gives the university community easy access to local businesses, products, and food. Customers can directly engage with the people who raise, grow or make their food or create or design goods and crafts. Simultaneously, the market sheds light on issues of food security, sustainable business practices and food production. Sustain SU's educational efforts included hosting other sustainability-related organizations at the market and encouraging market attendees to engage with the vendors, to ask questions and learn about what they do. COMMUNITY GARDENS The university's south campus is home to several community gardens, whose members include both university and non-university affiliated volunteers. PRAIRIE URBAN FARM http://www.prairieurbanfarm.ca/ The Prairie Urban Farm (PUF) is a one-acre, mixed crop, community food system. PUF believes the lack of resilience of current agri-food systems is a serious concern. PUF aims to demonstrate and provide skill-building opportunities in alternative, regenerative ways of growing food in an urban context. By giving community members access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food, PUF is strengthening Edmonton's food security. GREEN AND GOLD GARDEN http://www.greengoldgarden.com/ The Green & Gold Community Garden is a community garden with a difference - a garden with both local and global benefits. The garden is run by volunteers and their produce is grown using organic gardening practices, with no pesticides or herbicides. The garden is open to the public during twice-weekly markets, when freshly picked produce is available for a donation based on fair market prices. All of the proceeds go towards supporting the Tubahumurize Association in Rwanda. EDMONTON ORGANIC GROWERS GUILD http://eogg.org/ The Edmonton Organic Growers Guild (EOGG) is an organic community farm where members work year-round to sow, nurture, harvest, donate (and enjoy!) produce straight from the garden. EOGG use a variety of growing techniques, including raised beds and a hoop house for more controlled environments. Composting bins are also on site. Produce goes to members and various local non-profit organizations to help feed those in need.

AUGUSTANA CAMPUS DINING SERVICES In addition to vegan and vegetarian options, Augustana Campus Dining Services offers halal, paleo, low-fat, vegetarian, vegan, celiac-friendly and lactose-free diets, and can accomodate students with any other allergy. Students with specialty diets are consulted at the beginning of the school year and meals are planned to fit. The dining hall offers three meals a day plus snacks. For each meal, specialty diet options are indicated on the menu. The salad bar offers a diversity of vegetables as well as vegetarian and vegan-friendly protein options, including beans, whole grains, cottage cheese and hard-boiled eggs. ARAMARK Aramark's Get the Good Stuff program is an easy wayfinding tool that helps customers quickly identify items with reduced sodium, fat and calories. This program was expanded to include signage and menu labels for vegetarian, vegan meals.

ARAMARK Aramark hosts an annual food-waste prevention week where educational materials are placed in the dining hall(s) promoting meatless meals, sustainability and seasonal vegetables.

ARAMARK Aramark holds monthly theme buffets in Lister Market. These events keep sustainability in mind, with a focus on fresh vegetables and other locally produced ingredients. Theme meals may include international food or build-your-own meals (e.g. rice bowls, tacos or pizza). AUGUSTANA CAMPUS DINING SERVICES Augustana Campus dining hall offers at least one "local lunch" per month, where all the food served is locally-sourced at no additional cost.

FILISTIX http://www.filistix.ca/ FiliStix is an Edmonton-based company focused on local, fresh, sustainable ingredients, offering both meat-based and vegetarian options each day. There are two locations on North Campus, hosted via the university's primary dining contractor, Aramark.

AUGUSTANA CAMPUS DINING SERVICES A rotating display in Augustana Campus dining hall identifies examples of local ingredients. This display changes depending on the menu offerings, and is updated for the periodic "local lunch" theme meal. Signs for Fairtrade coffee, tea and chocolate are posted in the dining hall and cafe. ARAMARK Displays in Lister Market highlight information on local food purchases, sustainable options such as cage-free eggs, and MSC-certified seafood. Signage indicates which dishes and ingredients are local and sustainable. Aramark's Get the Good Stuff program is an easy wayfinding tool that helps customers quickly identify items with reduced sodium, fat and calories. This program was expanded to include signage and menu labels for localvegetarian, vegan, halal, and sustainable seafood.

SUSTAINABLE FOOD WORKING GROUP http://sustainability.ualberta.ca/OurApproach/InstitutionWideApproach/Working%20Groups.aspx Established in 2015, the Sustainable Food Working Group consists of members from across the university and its dining services operations. Part of the working group's mandate is to educate about the benefits of participating in a sustainable food system. In fall 2016, the working group organized two events: a workshop explaining sustainable food attributes combined with a cooking class where students learned to use every part of a pumpkin; and a panel discussion (featuring academics and an industry representative) on the greenhouse gas emissions related to food choices. FARM TO FRIDGE WORKSHOP http://sustainability.ualberta.ca/workshops The Office of Sustainability offers a workshop to university groups called "Farm to Fridge." The workshop explains the sustainable attributes of different foods and provides tips on how to reduce the social and environmental impacts of personal food choices. From May 2016 to June 2017, 94 students and staff attended the workshop.

AUGUSTANA CAMPUS DINING SERVICES Dietary Options: In addition to vegan and vegetarian meals, Augustana Campus Dining Services offers halal, paleo, low-fat, vegetarian, vegan, celiac-friendly and lactose-free diets, and can accomodate students with any other allergy. Students with specialty diets are consulted at the beginning of the school year and meals are planned to fit. The dining hall offers three meals a day plus snacks. For each meal, specialty diet options are indicated on the menu. Healthy Options: The kitchens use trans fat-free oil in their deep fryers and offer low-fat options with all meals. The salad bar is available with all lunches and dinners and always includes options like cottage cheese, beans and fresh vegetables. Whole grain breads and pastas are on offer. Whole fruit and cereal (both high and low sugar cereals), skim and 2% milk, and pure fruit juice are available at all meals. For beverages, skim and 2% milk, as well as pure fruit juice are available. ARAMARK Aramark institutes several sustainability initiatives into their company-wide plans. Green Stakes™ are Aramark Higher Education’s national commitments to affect positive sustainable change. As part of their environmental stewardship program, Aramark develops unique solutions for their campus partners, and commits to elevating environmental commitments to all of their 500+ Higher Education accounts. Aramark purchases paper products with recycled content and aim to increase their sustainable food offerings by 5% each year.

ARAMARK Aramark has revamped its environmental sustainability platform, Green Thread, to include a new sustainable partnership with food waste monitoring company LeanPath. The University of Alberta was the first Aramark location in Western Canada to implement this new program. It applies to all Aramark-operated North Campus food service locations. Through LeanPath's easy to use, automated system, Aramark is able to more accurately and consistently monitor food waste, and then identify and make operational changes to reduce waste. These efficiencies reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that would have resulted from the unnecessary production and disposal of wasted food. Consistent data will also allow benchmarking, target-setting, and progress tracking over time. While LeanPath helps to reduce food waste at the source, Aramark also participates in the university's organics collection program to divert residual food waste from landfill when it cannot be otherwise avoided.

AUGUSTANA CAMPUS DINING SERVICES Augustana Campus's cafeteria has been trayless for approximately 5 years. This program reduces the amount of chemical cleaning agents required, and saves half a gallon of water for every tray that does not have to be cleaned. Because students tend to take only what they can eat, instead of overloading their trays, the program also reduces food waste by approximately 30%.

ECO MOVE OUT http://sustainability.ualberta.ca/ecomove Students moving out of residences are encouraged to recycle or donate whatever they no longer need through the Eco Move Out (EMO) program. Food is collected during EMO in two different ways: (1) Residents drop off non-perishable food (e.g. canned goods, unopened packaged goods) at EMO donation stations in their residences. The food is collected and then distributed to the Campus Food Bank (http://campusfoodbank.com/). (2) EMO staff and volunteers recover frozen, unopened packages of food from residence freezers and donate them to Youth Empowerment and Support Services (http://www.yess.org/). EMO is a program of the Office of Sustainability, Residence Services, and Facilities and Operations. AUGUSTANA CAMPUS LEFTOVERS Instead of donating leftovers, Augustana Campus Dining Services uses leftovers in the buffet or as ingredients for soups and stews. FUTURE PLANS The university's Sustainability Plan identifies a food donation program as one strategy to make progress towards a more sustainable food system. To that end, the Sustainable Food Working Group has identified the development of a food donation program as a project for 2017-18; this program is in the early research phase.

REDUX http://www.reduxprogram.com/ Redux, a program of Northern Alberta Processors, collects used cooking oil from the University of Alberta. This oil is either converted into animal feed products or into biodiesel.

NORTH CAMPUS Organic waste is collected from all food preparation areas on North Campus (with the exception of a small handful of franchise locations). Organics are collected in the kitchens, amalgamated at the university's on-site recycle tranfer station, and then hauled to a local composting facility. The program accepts organic waste including: fruit and vegetable scraps, meat and dairy products, tea leaves, coffee grounds and filters, and paper towels and parchment paper. AUGUSTANA CAMPUS At Augustana Campus, organics are collected in rolling carts and picked up by the university's contracted waste hauler for composting at the local Camrose facility. This facility cannot accept meat or dairy products. Food service supervisors are actively engaged in monitoring what goes into the organics containers to ensure only appropriate food waste is collected.

ZERO WASTE ORGANICS COLLECTION http://sustainability.ualberta.ca/zerowaste The University of Alberta has made several commitments to implement and increase post-consumer composting collection. Starting in 2018, the university has committed to sending 1,500 metric tonnes (1.5 million kg) of organics per year to the City of Edmonton’s new anaerobic digestion facility where it will be used to produce energy and compost. In the Sustainability Plan (2016-2020), the university aims to divert 90% of the university’s waste from landfill by 2020 and to continue to reduce waste per weighted campus user. Partly in order to implement post-consumer organics collection, the university has adopted a "zero waste" approach to reducing the amount of waste the university creates and sends to landfills. The zero waste approach includes deploying four-stream collection bins across the university (the bins collect mixed paper, recyclables, organics, and landfill waste). In June 2017, eight buildings are fully using the zero waste bins. The first buildings to receive the new bins included food service outlets: Lister Hall, the Students' Union Building, and HUB Mall. With the next five buildings, several office and classroom facilities now have post-consumer organics collection. AUGUSTANA CAMPUS There are bins for collecting organic waste and recycling throughout Augustana Campus. In addition, the available take-out containers are compostable.

LISTER HALL RESIDENCE Lister Market uses reusable bamboo serviceware, which has greatly reduced waste and costs associated with disposable dishes. REUSABLE DISH PROGRAM Since 2003, the Students' Union has operated a reusable dish service open to all university affiliates. The service rents out more than 10,000 items annually for meetings and events. AUGUSTANA CAMPUS Only reusable glass dishware and metal utensils are available for dine-in meals in the Augustana Campus dining hall.

ARAMARK All Aramark-operated food service locations exclusively use compostable take-out containers, and compostable cutlery is available at many locations. In Lister Market, take-out containers are only available upon request and are compostable. AUGUSTANA CAMPUS DINING SERVICES The Café and any catered events at Augustana Campus use Earthware brand. Take-out meals from the dining hall are largely discouraged; it is only possible with a reusable take-out container that students must pay a $20 deposit to use. Approximately 30 of these containers are rented out each year.

ARAMARK Customers with a reusable mug receive a 10 cent discount at retail coffee operated by Aramark. STUDENTS' UNION The Students’ Union offers reusable plates in the Students' Union Building (SUB) food court. Anyone with a reusable mug or dishware can receive a 10 to 25 cent discount in the SUB food court. AUGUSTANA CAMPUS Customers with a reusable mug receive a 10 cent discount at the Augustana Campus Café. Only reusable containers are provided in the Augustana Campus dining hall.

AUGUSTANA CAMPUS DINING SERVICES In the Augustana Campus dining hall, students can pay a $20 deposit for a reusable to-go container. Generally, these containers are the only method accepted for taking food out of the dining hall. The only exception is in rare circumstances where a student needs to leave campus or cannot make a mealtime (for example, if a student is ill), in which case a request for bagged lunch can be submitted. In addition, Augustana uses only bulk milk,cream and condiments in the cafeteria as an additional waste-reduction measure.

Additional Responsible Parties: Lorraine Huntley Support Services Coordinator Hospitality Services Troy Bender, Shilpi Gupta, and Michael Yarymowich Aramark Higher Education Destyni Deluca and Christopher Avelar Students' Union and Sustain SU Jessie Kwasny Waste Diversion / Recycling Supervisor Buildings and Grounds Services, Facilities and Operations Lilas Bielopotocky Supervisor of Food Services Augustana Campus Dining Services