Overall Rating	Silver
Overall Score	50.16
Liaison	Dr. Jill Wicknick
Submission Date	Jan. 7, 2023

STARS v2.2

University of Montevallo
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

Status	Score	Responsible Party
	1.48 / 2.00	Susan Caplow Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Behavioral and Social Sciences

"---" 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?:

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

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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?:

A brief description of the sustainability-themed food outlet:

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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:

Yes, we have a constant rotation of low impact dining events including meatless menus, farm-to-table events and superfood spotlights

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:

We offer a vegan-vegetarian destination station called Rooted in our dining hall at each lunch and dinner meal period. Additionally, 95% of our vegetable offerings are vegan/vegetarian with very limited options that include any type of meat protein.

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:

Through signage, dish identification cards and print/wall graphics, we communicate food sustainability to dining hall visitors.

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:

Sustainability Committee organized a food waste challenge in spring 2018 to encourage students to minimize food waste. The Cafeteria has graphics near the dish drop area to encourage food waste reduction, and the Cafeteria tracks all 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:

We do not use trays in the dining hall, and allow students to serve themselves at most of the food bars.

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:

We currently track our raw food waste on a daily basis to educate staff to reduce food waste and we supply all raw vegetable scraps to the campus community garden, however the local restaurant health department will not let us donate any foods that are not in their raw state. We do donate raw, fresh produce to the local community food pantry periodically throughout the year

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?:

A brief description of the food materials diversion program:

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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:

Food scraps go to the Organic Community Garden for composting.

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor have a post-consumer composting program?:

A brief description of the post-consumer composting program:

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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:

All service ware is reusable in the dining hall.

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:

We have a reusable container program in which students can pay a $6 deposit to have a reusable container they can exchange it as many times as they like and return it for the deposit at the end of the year.

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:

If they return their container at the end of the year, they get a free ice cream at the ice cream shop on campus.

Optional Fields

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

We support the university’s health and wellness initiatives by donating fruits and vegetables, we also have switched our disposable products to compostable paper products and eliminated all foam and plastic disposable items. For the coming year we plan to eliminate single serve carryout boxes and initiate a campus-wide reusable carryout program

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

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Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

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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.