Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 55.86
Liaison Aldo Pierini
Submission Date Sept. 16, 2021

STARS v2.2

Villanova University
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.68 / 2.00
"---" 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:
Villanova Dining Services has teamed up with Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative to bring community supported agriculture (CSA) to the Villanova community. Villanova students, faculty and staff will have the opportunity to purchase vegetable shares through the Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative. Each week for shares consisting of a variety of fresh produce from that week’s harvest will be delivered to the 2nd Storey Market for members to pick up and enjoy.

The program was paused during the 2020-2021 academic year due to COVID, thus the website is currently not active

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?:
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:
Veggie Mania is a Villanova Dining Services annual competition that has been running for over 10 years. It was created as way to develop new and interesting plant based offerings. It is also an excellent way to provide an opportunity for our chefs to be creative. Lastly, it was designed to promote plant based foods as a healthy alternative to animal based proteins. We are proud that this competition has a sustainable impact as well. By introducing more plant-based foods to our customers, we are simultaneously helping our environment by reducing meat consumption. The introduction of new vegan dishes helps our customers realize that there are many alternatives to animal based proteins.

Samples of the top three entries are offered each year at the farmers' market in April.

https://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/services/dining/nutrition/VeggieMania.html

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 menu options are available at all dining locations on campus for each meal. The residential dining halls feature complete-protein vegan entrees and vegan options which includes at least one vegan soup daily. At dinner, a vegetarian and vegan entrée are featured. In the three resident halls, a vegan refrigerator is stocked with vegan food products along with dried fruits. http://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/services/dining/nutrition/villanova_vegan.html

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 meals are labeled as being vegan, vegetarian or gluten free

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:
Dining services is currently using the LeanPath Program to track all pre-consumer food waste on campus.
http://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/services/dining/sustainability/reducereuse.html

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:
In the Fall of 2008 St. Mary's Dining Hall, on West Campus, eliminated trays from the dining room. At the time, tray-less dining was a new but fast spreading sustainability initiative at many colleges and universities around the country. Tray-less dining was well received in St. Mary's and in January of 2009 Tray-less dining was expanded to include all three resident dining halls on Villanova's campus.

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:
Currently we donate all perishable products in our inventory before we close for breaks (fall, spring, and Christmas) to Philabundance.

We also participate in the food recovery network and donate leftover food from the dining halls to a local soup kitchen. this program is run in partnership with Villanova Dining, the student Food Recovery Network, and Coordinated Homeless Outreach Center (CHOC). Read more about this effort http://www.villanovan.com/news/villanova-student-group-spotlight-food-recovery-network/article_bbecd1d2-29d0-11e9-9c50-737e0e72bed3.html

In addition, we have other food donation programs such as Sunday Breakfast Mission, Shiloam Ministries, and many other events such as Special Olympics, Relay for life, and St. Thomas of Villanova Day of Service.

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:
Villanova Dining Services uses fryer oil supplied by Oilmatic. Oilmatic supplies us with an expeller pressed, trans fat and preservative free, high oleic canola oil through a closed system and collects our used oil for recycling. Over the past school year Oilmatic has collected over 30,000 pounds of used oil from Villanova, 100% of which has been used in the production of biodiesel and paint, none has gone into any form of animal feed.

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:
The majority of food trimmings produced during food preparation are weighed, recorded and placed in the composting cans. These cans are stored in a walk-in refrigerator designated for food waste and then they are picked up by a local composer, Kitchen Harvest.

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:
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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:
We have three all-you-care-to-eat dining halls on campus, they all use reusable service ware.

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:
For the 2019-2020 academic year, while school was operating in person, anyone who uses a reusable mug at an on campus coffee shop will get a $0.25 discount on their drink. Branded reusable mugs are available at all cafe's on campus for $2.

Optional Fields

A brief description of other sustainability-related initiatives not covered above:
VEG stands for "Villanova Eats Great." Villanova Dining Services aspires to bring you nutritionally-dense cuisine on a daily basis, in each of our 18 dining locations across campus. We designed a Nutrition Program that anyone can follow to make more mindful choices. Increasing your nutrition is as simple as making more plant-based dietary decisions. We've introduced concepts that don't require calorie or carb counting, rather focusing on eating whole foods that are less processed and more wholesome.

Website URL where information about the sustainable dining programs is available:
https://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/services/dining/sustainability.html

Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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