| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 84.74 |
| Liaison | Patrick McKee |
| Submission Date | Dec. 30, 2024 |
University of Connecticut
IN-8: Dining Services Certification
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
0.50 / 0.50 |
Patrick
McKee Senior Sustainability Program Manager Office of Sustainability |
Is at least one on-campus dining hall or food service outlet certified by one or more of the following organizations?:
| Yes or No | |
| Food for Life (Food for Life Served Here award) | --- |
| The Food Recovery Network (Food Recovery Verified) | No |
| The Green Restaurant Association (GRA) (Two Star or higher) | Yes |
| Green Seal (GS-55 Standard for Restaurants and Food Services) | No |
| Leaders for Environmentally Accountable Foodservice (LEAF) | No |
| Nordic Swan | --- |
| Responsible Epicurean and Agricultural Leadership (REAL) | No |
| Sustainable Restaurant Association (Food Made Good, Two Stars or higher) | --- |
| An equivalent third party certification approved by AASHE | No |
Approximately what proportion of on-site food service outlets (by location or sales) are third party certified?:
A list or brief description of each certified dining hall or food service outlet, including the certification earned:
In 2017, all eight of our residential dining units have been approved as Certified Green Restaurant by the Green Restaurant Association and have since been recertified at higher levels:
Buckley Dining Hall: 4 Star – 2019
Gelfenbien Commons: 4 Star – 2023
McMahon Dining Hall: 4 Star – 2022
North Campus Dining Hall: 4 Star – 2022
Northwest Marketplace: 4 Star – 2022
Putnam Dining Hall: 4 Star – 2018
Rome Commons at South: 4 Star – 2023
Whitney Dining Hall: 4 Star – 2022
These dining halls all received exemplary scores due to their accomplishments in a number of environmental categories, including water efficiency, waste reduction and recycling, sustainable durable good & building materials, sustainable food, energy, reusables & environmentally preferable disposables and chemical & pollution reduction. Putnam Dining Hall underwent a recent renovation, earning a LEED Silver rating for its building interior, and featuring a “Living Wall” of herbs and partnership with Quantum Biopower, a renewable energy and digestion facility to divert food waste. Notable features in the other dining halls include LED lighting, vegetarian and vegan main dishes, locally sourced food, high efficiency sprayers, and Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) products.
Additionally, the University of Connecticut earned two 2024 Green Restaurant Awards. Putnam Dining Hall received the GRA Chemical and Pollution Reduction Award. Whitney Dining Hall received the GRA award for "Greenest University Restaurant."
Optional Fields
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
https://dining.uconn.edu/locations/ UConn was one of the first public universities in the U.S. to achieve green restaurant certification at all of its campus dining halls. Two of the eight dining halls were renovated recently, and both achieved LEED certification (McMahon Dining was LEED Gold certified and received a State of CT Power of Change Award for energy efficiency in public buildings; Putnam Dining was renovated in 2017 and is LEED Silver certified).
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.