Virginia Commonwealth University
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

Part 1. Sustainable dining initiatives

Institution’s dining services support sustainable food systems in one or more of the following ways. The institution or its primary dining services contractor:

• Hosts a farmers market, community supported agriculture (CSA) or fishery program, or urban agriculture project, or supports such a program in the local community.

• Hosts a sustainability-themed food outlet on-site, either independently or in partnership with a contractor or retailer.

• Supports disadvantaged businesses, social enterprises, and/or local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through its food and beverage purchasing.

• Hosts low impact dining events (e.g., Meatless Mondays) or promotes plant-forward (vegetables-as-center-of-the-plate, with smaller portions of meat) options.

• Has a vegan dining program that makes diverse, complete-protein vegan options available to every member of the campus community at every meal (e.g., a vegan entrée, an all-vegan station, or an all-vegan dining facility).

• Informs customers about low impact food choices and sustainability practices through labeling and signage in dining halls.

Part 2. Food waste minimization and recovery

Institution’s dining services minimize food and dining waste in one or more of the following ways. The institution or its primary dining services contractor:

• Participates in a competition or commitment program (e.g., U.S. EPA Food Recovery Challenge) and/or uses a food waste prevention system (e.g., LeanPath) to track and improve its food management practices.

• Has 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.

• Donates food that would otherwise go to waste to feed people.

• Diverts food materials from the landfill, incinerator or sewer for animal feed or industrial uses  (e.g., converting cooking oil to fuel, on-site anaerobic digestion).

• Has a pre-consumer composting program.

• Has a post-consumer composting program.

• Utilizes reusable service ware for “dine in” meals.

• Provides reusable and/or third party certified compostable containers and service ware for “to-go” meals (in conjunction with a composting program).

• Offers discounts or other incentives to customers who use reusable containers (e.g., mugs) instead of disposable or compostable containers in “to-go” food service operations.

This credit includes on-campus dining operations and catering services operated by the institution and the institution’s primary dining services contractor.

This credit applies to all institutions that have dining services (e.g., on-site dining halls, catering services, or food service outlets) operated by the institution, a contractor, or a franchisee.

Each part is scored independently.

Part 1

An institution earns 0.2 points for each initiative outlined above up to the maximum of 1 point available for Part 1.

Part 2

An institution earns 0.125 points for each initiative outlined above up to the maximum of 1 point available for Part 2.

Timeframe

Report on current policies and programs at the time of submission.

Sampling and Data Standards

Not applicable.