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Campus Dining Sustainable Practices

2009/10 Fiscal Period - Updated 4/22/10

 

Developing sustainable practices is important to Campus Dining and the university. The goal for a sustainable campus involves the careful balance of environmental protection, academic program needs, and financial viability. As Campus Dining grows and develops through the years, these concepts are kept in mind when developing new programs and services.

For more information about university-wide sustainability efforts.

Listed below are the current programs and practices adopted by Campus Dining. This list is continually being updated with new improvements throughout the year.

Solid Waste & Recycling

The Cal Poly Corporation (CPC) created a program in February 2009 that diverts thousands of pounds of post consumer waste from entering local landfills. Biodegradable matter such as food scraps and coffee grounds are stored on campus then shipped to a local composting facility, where over 300 tons of waste is converted into premium compost soil each year. Bonnie Murphy, executive director of CPC says that she and the university are "committed to developing innovative and sustainable programs on campus".

Campus Dining feeds thousands of hungry students, staff, faculty, and guests on campus every day. The organization strives to recycle and reuse as much of what is consumed as possible. Each year, Campus Dining recycles to following items (in approximate amounts):

• 193,000 pounds of cardboard
• 400 large bins of aluminum, plastic, and glass

Campus Dining also recycles its waste cooking oil and uses bio-diesel to fuel their trucks. Some of the used oil is donated to the Biodiesel Club on campus and the rest is recycled. Unused sealed food that is close to its expiration date is also put to good use. These food items are donated to the local food bank, making sure Cal Poly customers receive the best quality products possible while helping people in need. Last year, Campus Dining donated over 2,400 pounds of sealed foods to the SLO Food Bank.

Transportation

The Campus Dining fleet program is quickly converting to electricity and other alternative fuels. Campus Dining has a large fleet program, consisting mainly of electric and/or alternative fuel vehicles. Among the 32 operating vehicles:

• 15 are electric powered cars, trucks, and carts
• 2 are trucks powered by biodiesel fuel
• 15 are vans, cars, and small trucks used primarily for local transportation of goods and services

Employees of Campus Dining participate in local ride share programs, take alternative transportation to and from campus, and/or ride their bikes.

Food Sourcing

Campus Dining carries over 100 different local, organic, and or sustainable products throughout campus, including Cal Poly produced products. Most of these brands can be found at Campus Market and Village Market, which carry a variety of locally grown seasonal products year round. Campus Dining supports local businesses and agriculture and works with several local and regional producers.

• Breads and pastries are purchased from Edna's Bakery, based in San Luis Obispo
• Seasonal seafood is purchased from Central Coast Seafood, based in Atascadero
• Meats are purchased from Kaney Food Service Company, based in San Luis Obispo
• Dairy products are purchased from Producers Dairy, based in Fresno

Sage Restaurant & Catering purchase seasonal produce from the Cal Poly Organic Farm and incorporates these foods into their seasonal menus and decor.

Having fresh, healthy food options available throughout campus is a focal point in food services on campus. Foods are prepared daily and made with the highest food safety standards in mind. Foods are closely regulated for quality, providing customers with the best possible products. Packaged foods that are close to their expiration dates or foods that are starting to go stale are often pulled out promptly and donated to the SLO Food Bank.

Packaging Materials

Campus Dining has converted from polystyrene packaging to recyclable or compostable products in all non-franchise campus restaurants; this adds up to over 800,000 cups, boxes, bowls, and plates in a typical year. Campus Catering offers only compostable and recyclable cutlery and flatware with all orders; customers are charged for plasticware to encourage more use of the earth-friendly products.

Campus Dining is currently working to decrease the amount of plastic bags available throughout the dining operations, where appropriate. Since 2008, plastic bag consumption has decreased by over 25% at the campus dining restaurants and markets.

This year, student designers created a new brand of environmental drink ware to encourage customers to reuse their drinking cups. The "GoEco" line features a 15oz. biodegradable coffee mug ($5 each) and 16oz. aluminum water bottle ($6.25 each). These items are sold at cost to help promote the usage of reusable cups at an affordable price.

To further incentivize customers to reduce and reuse, customers that bring in their own drinking cup to a Campus Dining coffee houses (excluding franchises) will receive a $0.30-$0.45 discount (depending on drink size).

All marketing materials produced by Campus Dining such as brochures, flyers, leaflets, and direct mailers are printed on FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified paper. The Campus Dining marketing department works with local printers for and hires students from Cal Poly. All computer paper used by Campus Dining staff is made of 30% recycled content. In recent months, the Campus Dining marketing department has been focusing their efforts on digital and electronic promotions such as digital media message boards, email, micro-sites, social media, and text messaging. This has helped to reduce the overall need for printed materials.

Appliances

Many of the appliances used in Campus Dining are being updated with energy efficient appliances. Recently, a new energy-star rated dishwasher was replaced in Building 19. This will save hundreds of gallons of water every year and reduce the overall energy use in the building.

Many of the beverage vending machines on campus were recently updated with new energy efficient machines, equipped with motion detection sensors. 

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