Overall Rating	Gold - expired
Overall Score	67.87
Liaison	Nurit Katz
Submission Date	March 6, 2020

STARS v2.2

University of California, Los Angeles
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

Status	Score	Responsible Party
	2.00 / 2.00	Erin Fabris Sustainability Manager Housing and Hospitality

"---" 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?:

Yes

A brief description of the farmers market, CSA or urban agriculture project:

An on-campus farmers market is hosted once per month during the academic year.

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:

Bruin Plate, UCLA's most popular Dining hall, has a sustainability-themed menu concept. The facility opened its doors in 2013 with 32% sustainable food offerings.

The Bruin Plate Concept
Located in the expanded Carnesale Commons complex, Bruin Plate is UCLA's newest residential restaurant. Opened in Fall 2013, the 900-seat Bruin Plate offers a menu that focuses on fresh, wholesome, and nutritionally-balanced options and follows best practices of sustainability in food service operations.

At Bruin Plate, we offer fresh, delicious and wholesome food in an environment that supports "mindful eating." This means we create a dining experience that encourages you to pay attention to what you eat – using your senses to explore, savor, and taste – and to choose food that is both pleasing to you and nourishing to your body.

Our menu was developed from scratch with new approaches to cooking methods and food combinations. At Bruin Plate, we:

Feature whole foods that are in season, local, and all-natural
Carefully choose high-quality lean meats and use a greater variety of fresh vegetables
Use the healthiest cooking techniques such as grilling, roasting, baking, and poaching to capture the freshest flavors
Offer sweet bites for dessert that feature lower fat alternatives and lots of fresh fruit
At Bruin Plate, we follow leading practices in food service sustainability, including:

Using a high degree of sustainable foods, such as vegetables from local farms, seafood that meets Monterey Bay Aquarium sustainability criteria, grass-fed beef, free-range chickens, cage-free eggs, and fair trade teas
Composting 100% of pre- and post-consumer waste
Meeting Silver LEED™ construction and operating standards and certified as a Green Restaurant through the Green Restaurant Association
Fully complying with the University of California 2020 Food Sustainability Policy

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?:

A brief description of the support for disadvantaged businesses, social enterprises, and/or local SMEs:

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

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Low-impact dining

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor host low impact dining events or promote plant-forward options?:

Yes

A brief description of the low impact dining events and/or plant-forward options:

UCLA Dining hosts the Green Mondays program all day on Mondays. Green Mondays is a traditional "Meatless Mondays" program where 1 platform in every dining hall is transformed into an entirely vegan meal.

Dining also has a Beefless Thursdays program, in which no beef is included in any of the menu items.

UCLA Dining recently launched the Impossible Foodprint project, where Impossible plant-based meat was served in one of our boutique dining locations alongside an information campaign to educate on the environmental impacts of different animal proteins and plants.

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:

Vegetarian and vegan dishes are offered at every station during every meal period in all dining halls. In addition to the prepared vegan/vegetarian options, many entrees are customizable or can be made to order without animal proteins. Due to the quantity and quality of vegan foods and meals offered, UCLA Dining Services won PETA's award for #1 Most Vegan-Friendly College in the US in 2010. Both the online and in-restaurant menus indicate which dishes are vegan or vegetarian. http://menu.ha.ucla.edu/foodpro/default.asp

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:

All Dining menus utilize icons to identify vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, etc. Sustainable items are marked with a green earth logo with the phrase "Low Carbon Footprint." High carbon menu options (containing beef, lamb, or large amounts of cheese) are marked with a red earth logo and the phrase "High Carbon Footprint"

There is also a banner on all online menus that says "fight climate change with food" and a link to learn more. http://menu.dining.ucla.edu/Menus

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:

UCLA is committed to sending zero waste to landfill by 2020, and strives to reduce food waste as much as possible using tracking programs in our menu planning software. Food waste is addressed with a variety of strategies:
•Unserved food that can be served the next day: temperature-controlled for food safety and served the next day.
•Unserved food that cannot be served the next day and is instead donated: Bruin Dine
•Unserved food that cannot be served the next day: Compost (if not donatable)
•Served food that dining guests do not eat: Compost

Bruin Dine is a student-assisted food recovery program where unserved food is collected from Dining halls and re-served following the meal period to members of the campus community. Bruin Dine is currently operating 2 nights per week and serves between 50-70 guests per night.

Food waste audits, where guests separate and scrape leftover plate waste, are held twice per dining hall per year in order to educate and engage with guests on the environmental impacts of food waste.

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:

UCLA Dining has a trayless dining program in all dining halls.

Many of the residential dining halls serve meal items in small portions to reduce waste. Students are taught to go back for seconds if they need more food, rather than getting a larger portion during the first trip. Dining also utilizes small plate sizes to encourage students to select the appropriate portion size.

Food waste is weighed at each facility when it is picked up for disposal, so UCLA is able to monitor food waste and track reduction progress accurately, and in real time.

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:

Dining donates surplus food before the winter closure and before the end of the academic year. Additionally, left-over food is donated after large-scale events like the New Student BBQ.

Bruin Dine, mentioned above, recovers food 2 nights per week from all campus Dining Halls and re-serves it to the campus community.

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 vegetarian cooking oil is recycled for fuel. Pre and post-consumer food waste is composted off-site.

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:

All of the large dining halls compost pre-consumer food waste. Pre-consumer composting has also been rolled out in the boutique/quick service restaurants where food scraps are generated from cooking.

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:

All dining halls compost post-consumer food waste. All restaurants compost post-consumer food scraps. Food waste is collected through the dish returns, or through customer-facing compost bins. There are also compost bins in all residence halls so guests can dispose of post-consumer food waste if they take their food out of the restaurants.

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:

UCLA Dining Services provides exclusively reusable service ware, except for napkins, in the main residential dining halls. Therefore the only waste produced on the consumer side is food/napkins. The to-go style restaurants operated by Dining Services use compostable serviceware for all disposable items that have a compostable alternative (95% of all items).

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 disposable service items in the "to-go" style facilities are 3rd party certified compostable.

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?:

Yes

A brief description of the reusable container discount or incentives program:

As part of its Sustainability program, ASUCLA Dining has two refillable mug programs in campus coffee houses. Customers who use a special ASUCLA mug get a significant discount on coffee, or they can bring in their own mugs for a smaller discount.
UCLA Dining offers a $0.10 discount on a la carte beverage purchases in any of the “to-go” style venues for customers who bring their own travel cup. In 2018, UCLA Dining gave all incoming students a new bottle that can be used specifically for this purpose.

Optional Fields

A brief description of other sustainability-related initiatives not covered above:

UCLA has a robust health and wellness program called the Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center. The Eat Well pod of the Healthy Campus Initiative works on additional sustainable food initiatives across campus, such as teaching students how to cook in a demo kitchen, advocating for reduced animal proteins in menus, and adding sustainable food items to campus vending machines.

Website URL where information about the sustainable dining programs is available:

https://www.sustain.ucla.edu/housing/dining-green/

Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Contact:

Erin Fabris
efabris@ha.ucla.edu

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.