Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 65.73
Liaison Gary Cocke
Submission Date May 11, 2023

STARS v2.2

The University of Texas at Dallas
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.88 / 2.00 Gary Cocke
Sustainability Director
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:
UT Dallas Dining Services hosts its “Pop Up Farmers Market” on the second Tuesday of each month during the semesters. Students, faculty and staff are invited to learn about sustainable and healthy food options, and shop the market’s produce, spices and prepared foods. Recipe cards with Dining Hall coupons will also be available. Also featured at the Farmers Market is a local farm or other businesses that offer fresh, whole foods.

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?:
No

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?:
Yes

A brief description of the support for disadvantaged businesses, social enterprises, and/or local SMEs:
UTD Dining has a partnership with Thompson Hospitality for historically underutilized business (HUB) purchasing.

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

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:
In Fall 2018, The University of Texas at Dallas became the first public university in Texas to join Meatless Monday, an international campaign promoting health and sustainability throughout college campuses around the world. A partnership between Student Government and Dining Services, this project aims to bring awareness about healthy living not just for students, but also the environment. With meat production contributing significantly to the environmental challenges our world faces today, we hope Meatless Monday will encourage students to reduce meat consumption on at least one day out of the week.

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:
Vegan options are provided daily across campus in various venues.
Dining Services and Chartwells have also partnered with Student Government Green Initiative to adopt Meatless Mondays on campus in order to highlight vegan options for students.

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:
UTD Dining is currently working through signage through the HowGood program.

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:
UTD Dining in partnership with Chartwells uses a program called Waste Not. The program is used daily.
UT Dallas also participates annually in Campus Race to Zero Waste and reports on composting data. Back of house composting is utilized and available at UTD’s dining hall.

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:
Trays were eliminated from UT Dallas Dining Services in 2014.

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:
UT Dallas has the Comet Cupboard program. This food pantry initiative’s dedicated to helping students in need. Its primary mission is to provide necessary food and personal care items to members of the UT Dallas community. Food is collected throughout the year via food drives and fundraisers.
Food Recovery Network: UTD collects leftovers from campus dining locations and get the food to lower income populations.

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:
Dining Services uses Restaurant Technologies for the cooking oil waste program. Beginning in 2022, UT Dallas switched composting providers to Turn Compost which picks up and composts UTD’s back of house dining hall composting and composting from the Comet Composting program.

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:
Composting is an important part of the campus waste management program that is continuously evolving. Pre-Consumer food waste contributions began in 2011 in partnership with Dining Services and Facilities Management. In August 2017, a partnership with an industrial composting company formed and enhanced the overall composting program at UT Dallas. With the transition, specialized compost containers were installed near kitchen locations, therefore simplifying the pre-consumer food waste collection process. With this new partnership, additional food items became acceptable in the waste stream that were not previously accepted (for example, meat and dairy products), increasing the amount of food waste that is recycled. Dining Services has taken the lead and moved to all food waste collections in Dining Hall West. As of fall 2022, UT Dallas is partnering with Turn Compost to provide industrial composting services to campus.

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:
The Comet Composting program allows all students, staff, and faculty at UT Dallas to compost post-consumer waste in an industrial setting. Both pre- and post-consumer composting pickup service is provided by Turn Compost.

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:
Residential Dining utilizes reusable dinnerware and has almost completely eliminated the use of possible composting contaminants in the dining area. This is best seen through the lack of straws, stirrers and any prepackage items such as butter, jelly, honey and condiments.

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:
---

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?:
No

A brief description of the reusable container discount or incentives program:
Eliminated post-COVID, possibly bringing back in some areas in the future

Optional Fields

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

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

Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
This data was provided by UT Dallas Dining Services.

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.