Overall Rating	Silver
Overall Score	60.54
Liaison	Jane Stewart
Submission Date	March 1, 2024

STARS v2.2

Washington and Lee University
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

Status	Score	Responsible Party
	2.00 / 2.00	Alvin Wheeler Director of Dining Services Dining Services

"---" 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:

CSA - Washington and Lee provides payroll deduction options for Rockbridge Farmers Alliance CSA shares. The hope is that the ability to spread the cost over several months will make local food options an affordable choice for W&L employees.

https://www.wlu.edu/human-resources/benefits-and-paid-time-off/other-benefits-and-perks/local-food-options

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?:

Yes

A brief description of the support for disadvantaged businesses, social enterprises, and/or local SMEs:

University Dining purchases food from several local SMEs, detailed in our purchasing inventory. Purchases from these small, local enterprises represented in the purchasing inventory total $187,492.

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

187,492

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:

W&L's largest venue, The Marketplace, hosts a seasonal, 100% locally-sourced meal at the beginning of the year to highlight the sustainable aspects of locally sourced food.

We also have a low impact dining venue, eCafe in Hillel, which is a kosher kitchen and does not serve meat other than seafood. Everything is vegetarian besides two dishes: salmon Caesar salad and tuna melt. Even though we have this venue, we need to do a better job of making the connection to low impact dining. It is on the sustainability to-do list.

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:

The Marketplace specifically menus and plans for most all consumers, which includes vegan/vegetarian options.

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:

We have signage in our dining venues and during catered events that indicates when we use produce from the Campus Garden, as well as locally sourced items, vegan items, and vegetarian items. In addition, the Marketplace has signage indicating that all food waste and compostable ware will be composted at our composting facility at the Campus Garden.

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:

All our Chefs utilize production logs to track the trend of food prepared, consumed or wasted for each meal period. We track this data to scale accordingly for certain dishes or items on a daily basis.

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:

W&L has had trayless dining since 2007.

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:

All prepared food not served and and still safe to eat (following food safety procedures) is donated to Campus Kitchen, an on-campus program that serves the Rockbridge County, VA community by providing healthy meals and food options to food insecure locations.

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:

W&L's used cooking oil is stored in our loading dock area and picked up and recycled by RTI (Restaurant Technologies Inc.). RTI has oil recycling programs that create biodiesel and animal feedstock.

https://www.rti-inc.com/benefits/sustainability

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:

All pre-consumer food material created during kitchen production goes to the W&L campus-run composting program. We have a part-time Composting Operations Assistant who picks up this food material during the day and processes it out at our compost system and a student-run Compost Crew that picks up this food material during evening shifts. The compost that is made on-site is then used in the Campus Garden.

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:

Special bins are set by the plate return for compostable post-consumer waste. W&L also has a pulper that shreds post-consumer waste into a manageable, compact product for our compost system.

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 plates, cups, and serviceware are reusable for "dine in" meals. All board operations have china or melamine plates, bowls, etc. and plastic tumblers in their operations.

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:

All venues across W&L Dining either use Eco-Products or Terravive Compostable products for all "to-go" consumer ware. This compostable ware is third party certified and breaks down in our on-campus aerated static pile compost system).

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:

Discounts on coffee is offered to those who bring their own reusable mugs or water bottles.

Optional Fields

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

The "Weigh the Waste" events are conducted in dining venues every year, typically each semester. Students eating in the dining halls scrape and sort their plate waste into separate food waste and non-food waste bins. The goals of these events is to raise awareness about post-consumer food waste and to identify strategies to minimize waste.

We have a Dietition on campus that combs through hundreds of recipes to select a nutritious daily meal for those that choose to partake. He also lists why these items are high or low in certain categories. This is posted daily for Students/Staff to see.

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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