Overall Rating Silver
Overall Score 57.01
Liaison Meghna Tare
Submission Date April 3, 2022

STARS v2.2

University of Texas at Arlington
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.88 / 2.00 Bhargavi Jeyarajah
Sustainability Coordinator
Office of Sustainability
"---" 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:
Once a semester, local farmers and vendors are invited to sell items on-campus. This includes items like produce, plants, and local honey. These farmers markets are one of the most popular campus dining events.

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:
Maverick Dining offers a purely vegan and vegetarian dining outlet located in both dining halls. Rooted & Sustain were developed by Maverick Dining's dietitian and executive chef. The request for plant-based dining is increasing, both outlets offer a great, well-balanced option. These outlets provides a vegetarian and vegan breakfast, lunch, and dinner that are flavorful and filling.

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?:
No

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:
Maverick Dining provides plant-based options at all dining hall stations, and encourages guests to try plant-based or lower carbon options to their favorite foods. Educational messaging and promotion are done through social media storytelling. To help guests easily find plant-based options, Maverick Dining provides a Vegan & Vegetarian Campus Dining Guide that includes all dining locations.

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:
Both dining halls have dedicated space for full vegetarian and vegan meals. The menus offered at each are created by the registered dietitian to ensure they are well-balanced, creative, and filling.

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:
Balanced U: Balanced U icons label foods in four categories 1) Balanced (low in calories, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium); 2) Gluten Free 3) Vegan 4) Vegetarian.

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:
Food Recovery Network: Working with UTA's FRN chapter, Maverick Dining collects any leftovers that meet safety guidelines. This food is saved and picked up by FRN volunteers to distribute to local food banks. The UTA Chapter was awarded the 2021 Food Recovery Challenge National Award in Leadership for their work with the FRN https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/about-2021-food-recovery-challenge-national-award-winners#Arlington%C2%A0
Campus Composting: Maverick Dining works with the campus composter to ensure that all back of house food scraps and coffee grounds are collected for compost on a daily basis.
Waste Not: Both dining halls participate in the Waste Not program to collect, monitor, and work to decrease back of house waste. This waste is measured on a daily basis.
Stop Food Waste Day: Maverick Dining participates in the national Stop Food Waste Day. Any post-consumer waste is intercepted from the dish room and instead collected in designated bins. This waste is weighed and a display is set up to help guest visualize the impact of putting too much on a plate.

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:
Trayless dining is implemented at both campus dining halls. To prevent post-consumer waste, the all-you-care-to-eat dining halls encourage guests to take smaller portions and make multiple trips to prevent waste.

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:
Food Recovery Network: Working with UTA's FRN chapter, Maverick Dining collects any leftovers that meet safety guidelines. This food is saved and picked up by FRN volunteers to distribute to local food banks. Catering Food Insecurity: Maverick Dining utilizes Chartwell's Higher Ed Catering Food Insecurity feature to help distribute any recoverable food from catering events. This typically happens when too much is order. Similarly to FRN, any food that meets safety requirements is saved. Those who sign up for alerts will receive a notification of what is available and where to pick up.

The UTA Chapter was awarded the 2021 Food Recovery Challenge National Award in Leadership for their work with the FRN https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/about-2021-food-recovery-challenge-national-award-winners#Arlington%C2%A0

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:
Campus Composting: Maverick Dining works with the campus composter to ensure that all back of house food scraps and coffee grounds are collected for compost on a daily basis.

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:
Campus Composting: Maverick Dining works with the campus composter to ensure that all back of house food scraps and coffee grounds are collected for compost on a daily basis.

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor have a post-consumer composting program?:
No

A brief description of the post-consumer composting program:
When food decomposes in landfills, it generates methane, a greenhouse gas that is 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Composting food and other organic waste can reduce its climate impact while retaining vital nutrients for reuse in campus gardens and landscaping.

UT Arlington’s award-winning composting program is not only practical and environmentally friendly but is an outstanding learning tool and model for others considering similar programs. The program annually composts 32.4 tons of food waste from on-campus dining services and off-campus coffee shops and hospitals as well as yard waste collected from campus ground crews. The University uses this compost as mulch and soil amendment on campus grounds and in the new community garden.

Composting Program on Dallas News http://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/headlines/20130421-ut-arlingtons-composter-helps-curb-campus-kitchens-food-waste.ece

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:
Both campus dining halls offer reusable service wear. Reusable cups and mugs are offered at some retail dining locations.

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)?:
No

A brief description of the compostable containers and service ware:
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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:
Reusable mug discount is offered for drinks at some locations.

Optional Fields

A brief description of other sustainability-related initiatives not covered above:
Maverick Dining has created a Vegan and Vegetarian Dining Guide.

https://dineoncampus.com/utarlington/vegan--vegetarian-dining-guide

Website URL where information about the sustainable dining programs is available:
https://dineoncampus.com/utarlington/sustainability

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.