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UCI Dining Sustainability Flipbook PDF
UCI Dining Sustainability
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SUSTAINABLE DINING AT UCI
Contents Sustainability Achievements
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Campus Engagement
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Focus on Fair Trade
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Dining Hall Sustainability
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Sustainability Labeling & Signage in Dining Halls
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UC Zero Waste Goals
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UCI Dining Sustainability Practices
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Sustainable Food & Beverage Purchasing Program
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Outreach Efforts to Support Learning & Research About Sustainable Food Systems
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Sustainability Achievements
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2019
Grand Prize
Award for Sustainability
Gold Award
for Outreach & Education
Silver Award
for Waste Management 2
AASHE STARS Platinum Rating
2019 NACUFS Sustainability Award Grand Prize
Fair Trade University Designation
#1 Sierra’s Coolest Schools in America
A+ on Peta2 Vegan Report Card
Top 10 Recyclemania Competition Since 2011
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CAMPUS ENGAGEMENT
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Over 60+
educational events are hosted by UCI Dining each year, traditionally within the student residential communities in order to help us promote sustainable behaviors and practices across campus.
These events focus on 3 main sustainability topics:
1. Zero Waste/ Food Waste 2. Fair Trade 3. Plant-based alternatives 6
Examples of these events include: Starbucks Cup Decorating Participants are provided with a free reusable Starbucks cup to decorate at this tabling event which gives us the opportunity to discuss the reusable cup discounts we offer across campus. Students can receive a 10¢ discount off their Starbucks drink when they bring a reusable container, and at all other dining locations they can receive 50¢ off when they bring in a reusable container.
Fair Trade Tuesdays Green Captains and Sustainability Interns table in front of Zot n’ Go offering free samples of selected fair-trade items like tea, coffee, and chocolate. The goal is to further educate students about UCI’s Fair-Trade certification, what it means to purchase Fair Trade goods and how this ultimately benefits farmers and the planet.
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Let’s Talk Trash This is a game that helps students learn how to properly sort their waste when eating in our food courts. Students, staff, and interns all find this game fun and rewarding, and we give away great prizes just for participating.
Love Your Food, Don’t Waste It Wasted food is gathered and displayed for students to see throughout the day at both dining halls. This visual representation serves as an eye-opening display and has a major impact, showing students what it looks like when they take food from the service line but don’t actually consume it.
Destress During Finals Students can come relax and also pick up free snacks and a DIY face mask made with coffee grounds and honey.
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FOCUS ON FAIR TRADE
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FOCUS ON FAIR TRADE 2019 AASHE Conference
Our Sustainability team members presented at this conference and shared how Fair Trade products are becoming more common on campus.
Fair Trade Halloween Over 1,900 Mesa Court residents experienced a Fair Trade Halloween after receiving candy donations from UCI Dining in Fall 2019.
Fair Trade Tuesday Over 125 students were educated on Fair Trade products after attending these events from Fall 2019 - Winter 2020.
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DINING HALL SUSTAINABILITY
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We give away 2,000+ reusable bottles at the beginning of each school year to meal plan holders and guests. This is to encourage students and staff to bring their reusable bottles with them to the dining halls, as well as other campus dining locations. We also give away many other reusable-ware “dinein” items during campus events including 1,000
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chopstick/knife/sporks, 750 stadium cups and 1,000 “travel-tensil” kits. By transitioning to reusable dessert cups, over 100,000 plastic cups per year can be diverted from landfill. 16 Zero Waste-themed events are hosted at our dining halls throughout the year to educate students about issues on food waste.
Residential To-Go Program
Residential Fryer Oil Program
We provide 100% reusable
100% of our fryer oil is filtered
clamshells, utensils, and cups
and cleaned at least once to
when meal plan holders choose
extend the life. Once the oil is no
to take their meal to-go.
longer usable, it is recycled and
Anteater Water Footprints At both dining halls we have recently implemented the
eventually converted to biodiesel. Each year, over 3,500 gallons of oil is filtered and recycled across campus.
system. We developed this tool
Digital Waste Minimization
to educate students on what
Both of our dining halls use
items require the most water to
tablets with proprietary
produce, as well as to help them
software allowing us to measure
become more conscious of their
temperature/waste logs,
food decisions.
production/service results and
At each serving station
recipes. On average this tablet
Anteater water footprint
prominently displayed on our digital menu boards is a red, yellow or green Anteater paw placed next to each menu
saves over 100,000 pieces of paper a year by not having to print out menus and recipes for employee use.
item to showcase the water usage impact. By using the stoplight color scheme, this allows students to quickly and easily see which item have the greatest water requirement to produce. To explain what each color represents, we also have posters at each dining hall that shows how much water it takes to produce one pound of this particular food.
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Sustainability Labeling & Signage in Dining Halls 17
Both the Anteatery and Brandywine divert 97% of their solid waste and were among the first zero-waste dining facilities in the UC system. Both dining halls feature a sustainability communication board with rotating highlights of our sustainability programs and the actions students can take to be more sustainable. Monthly posters educate students on various topics such as how much water it takes to create a burger, what it means to be Vegan and the importance of finishing your entire meal.
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Plant forward identifiers and icons are displayed on digital menuboards at our dining halls to communicate options that are healthier to students. This aligns with the campus goal of providing more plant forward dining options within our recipes. We partner with UCI Wellness, UCI Student Wellness & Health promotion, UCI Housing and other campus departments and organizations to host cooking demonstrations with our Executive Chefs to teach students, staff and faculty on how to prepare various healthy dishes, including Vegan recipes.
Food Waste Prevention System All pre-consumer food waste is weighed, and proprietary food management tools are used to track and address excessive pre-consumer food waste. Both campus dining halls and all campus retail eateries have a pre-consumer food waste collection program. We execute small batch cooking to ensure that the correct amount of food is produced for each meal period. This avoids overproduction, ensures freshness and allows us to tailor our production levels to match what we are seeing in terms of customer counts for that particular day or meal period.
Trayless Dining / Portion Program Trays have been eliminated in all dining locations, the trayless system reduces waste by encouraging students to take only the food they can hold on one plate and to come back if they want more. Tastings and half portions are encouraged so the students can see if they like the food item before selecting a full portion.
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One Mile Meals Program UCI’s first on-campus vertical garden! The garden is located in the patio area of the Anteatery Dining Hall and produces leafy greens, squash, tomatoes, herbs, and more. All the produce grown ends up being used within a one-mile radius, with the majority being used at the Anteatery dining hall. Compared to traditional farming, an aeroponic garden uses 90% less water, grows 2-3 times faster, and can grow 10 times the amount of food in the same amount of space. Over 1,800 bundles of produce are grown every month through this program.
Food Waste Dish Belt System In both dining halls, each dish belt utilizes a waste collector to reduce food waste into an ideal form to be composted, at the same time its recirculation of high-volume water, along with a low refresh rate, drastically reduces water consumption. This translates to water and energy savings throughout the entire dish room and well as eliminates the waste of water, energy, and chemicals.
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Wiping Out Waste Twice a quarter we collect, weigh and record solid food waste thrown out by students. The purpose behind this is to educate students about the environmental impact of food waste and to empower the students about how they can alter the footprint they leave behind. Through this activity students see how much food is wasted in a single meal period. Green Captains are present throughout this event to provide students with simple tips to reduce food waste, and to celebrate successes when students come to the bins with no waste.
On average, each student wastes around 1.6 ounces per meal, which is equivalent to approximately 35,000 meals wasted per year. The Anteatery currently holds the campus record of having the lowest waste of only 0.5 ounces of food wasted per person achieved in January of 2019. Wiping Out Waste is held during week 2 and week 9 of each quarter and takes place at both dining halls. Here are some recent results
WOW Results: Brandywine (Fall & Winter 2019-2020) 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0
Fall 1 (October)
Fall 2 (December) The Anteatery
Winter 1 (January)
Winter 2 (February)
Brandywine
Wiping Out Waste Chart 21
UC ZERO WASTE GOALS 22
Below is a recap of what we are doing to meet these goals in our operations across campus: UCI Dining eliminated all plastic bags in our Retail and other food service establishments back in 2018. The Anteatery and Brandywine dining halls both utilize reusable utensils, plates, cups, and bowls for dine-in. For to-go orders, both dining halls also provide reusable clamshells, utensils, and reusable hot/cold cups. The Anthill Pub utilizes reusable cups, reusable food baskets, and compostable food liners for dine-in. For to-go orders, the location provides compostable clamshells, utensils, and compostable condiment cups. UCI Catering utilizes reusable and compostable accessories and provides compostable boxes, utensils, napkins, and other compostable alternatives where available. UCI Dining has converted from single-use plastics to the following sustainable options in our retail food courts across campus: •
Converted to compostable corn starch utensils (spoons, knives, and forks).
•
Eliminated straws by switching to compostable straw-less “sippy cup” style lids.
•
Converted to brown compostable pastry bags for cookies and donuts.
•
Converted from wax liners and foil wrappers for burritos and baskets to brown compostable wrappers and liners.
We will also continue to work with our National Brand partners towards achieving UCI’s single-use plastics reduction goals
Plastic bags in retail and food service establishments will be eliminated by Jan. 1, 2021. Single-use plastic dining accessories (e.g., straws, utensils, stirrers) will be eliminated and replaced with local compostable or reusable alternatives by July 1, 2021, with exceptions for accessibility needs.
Dine-in facilities will provide reusable food service items (e.g., plates, cups, clamshell containers) for food consumed on site by July 1, 2022, and to-go facilities will provide reusable or locally compostable alternatives.
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DINING SUSTAINABILITY PRACTICES 25
Biogas Production Biogas is produced from food waste, napkins, wood coffee stirrers, and food-soiled paper plates and bowls. The campus utilizes an anaerobic digester that converts the waste to biogas, which is used for electricity.
Energy and Water Conservation During new hire orientations and quarterly reviews, we train our employees on everyday energy and water conservation practices in order to conserve the earth’s precious resources.
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Green Cleaning All dining locations are committed to using green cleaning products in our operations to reduce the need for chemical based cleaning products and provide a healthy and safe learning environment.
Receipt Less Transactions To minimize paper waste, printed receipts are available upon request or where a signature is needed
Refrigeration Coolers Since Summer 2019, dining has had an on-going project to convert all our open-air coolers into closed coolers.
To-Go Containers All locations are Styrofoamfree and promote reuse through our reusable discount program. Locations use sugarcane to-go boxes, plates, and bowls, which are compostable at UCI.
Reusable Coffee Stirrer Program We implemented stainless steel coffee stirrers at Bridge Cafe, a we proudly serve Starbucks location, which reduces the need for 35,000+ wood stirrers each year.
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Free Coffee Grounds Program Used coffee grounds are dried and packaged each week. In the first year, 210+ pounds of grounds were reused for DIY projects, face masks, gardens, etc. The following year, demand increased by 108%. We also have packets of coffee grounds available at Zot n Go for customers to use at home.
Subway Bread Forms At BC’s Cavern and Student Center locations, we have switched from silicone to aluminum & stainless steel which saves 700 hours of labor and 26,000 gallons of water each year.
Sip Smarter Straws and water cups in retail locations are given to guests only upon request. Every year, UCI uses 500,000+ water cups, Green captains have been revising operational policies to reduce water cup usage. Educational events are held every 2-3 weeks in food courts to encourage guests to reduce and reuse.
Reusable Discount We offer a discount with the use of reusable cups, mugs,
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bottles, etc. This discount is available for coffee and fountain drinks on campus at locations that offer those beverages. Customers receive 50 cents off coffee and soda at all locations, except Starbucks. At Starbucks, customers receive 10 cents off for bringing in their own cups.
Zero Waste Staff Training Our team conducts quarterly staff trainings and discusses Zero Waste topics at every employee pre-service meeting. We also remind staff of the proper waste sorting practices via a “Did You Know?” style quiz, and different topics are selected for review each week.
Waste Bins We practice post-consumer waste diversion at Phoenix Food Court, West Food Court, East Food Court, and BC’s Cavern Food Court. Beginning in Fall 2018, we introduced new recycling bins in West and East Food Court. These new bins allow guests to pour their liquids and ice down the first compartment and disposing their cup, lid, and other clean plastics and paper in the other.
be disposed of in each bin with corresponding signage.
Pick-A-Plate Program Although our to-go boxes at Panda Express are paper and can be composted, this program further allows guests to minimize their waste. Picking a plate reduces paper waste by 60%!
Grubhub Skip the Cutlery To cut down on single use plastic usage in campus retail locations, we have enabled an option on the Grubhub app to ask when an order is completed if the customer chooses not include cutlery. Within one month 34% of orders selected no cutlery.
SKIP THE CUTLERY You Can Help Reduce Plastic Waste When you order on the Grubhub App, please select: PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE CUTLERY
We also have colored coded bins at every location in the back of house that show what items can
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Green Captain Program Green Captains are location liaisons who are trained on topics including Zero Waste, sorting, event planning, and campus sustainability programs. Compared to previous year participation rates, our Green Captain program has recently experienced a 52% growth in Green Captain membership. Each UCI Dining location has at least 1 Green Captain as the liaison between the Sustainability Coordinator and that location. Green Captains are encouraged to come up with ideas to make their locations more sustainable, to brainstorm and host events, and to encourage their peers to be more sustainable. They also reinforce recycling and composting efforts in the kitchens so waste goes
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where it is supposed to go. Every quarter, locations are also encouraged to participate in a sustainability competition that includes: • Answering trivia questions • Nominating employees that practice sustainable lifestyles • Recognizing guests that demonstrate sustainable habits • Implementing new green dining programs The winning location receives a pizza party for the entire team.
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Sustainable Food & Beverage Purchasing Program 33
UC Irvine has set an ambitious goal to reach 25% spend on sustainable food and beverages by 2030. For 20192020, UCI Dining’s percentage of total annual food and beverage expenditures on products that were sustainably or ethically produced was at 13.7%. We will continue our steady progress towards meeting this goal by 2030.
Here are some ways we are moving towards achievement of that goal: 1. We collaborate with produce vendors to source local foods from within 250 miles of the campus. FreshPoint Produce Company (our main produce vendor) sends a list called a “hot sheet” to our teams weekly that indicates what produce is locally sourced. Our Executive Chefs and managers then work these items into our menu mix where appropriate. 2. Our percentage of total annual food and beverage expenditures on plant-based foods for 2020 was 32.71%. We continue to increase the amount of plant-based menu
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options on our menus year after year. 3. All seafood purchases meet the Monterey Bay Aquarium guidelines for sustainable seafood. 4. We are proud to be the 51st Fair Trade university in the nation. All coffee products purchased for Residential dining and our Java City Coffee locations are Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance certified, organic or a combination of two or more of these categories. 5. All eggs served on campus are cage-free and organic and have been since 2010.
“Be A Planteater” Encouraging Anteaters to Become “Planteaters” We hold a variety of promotional activities throughout the school year to support being a “Planteater”. We promote Vegetarian Awareness month, World Vegan month, and National Nutrition month with an emphasis on the role of plant-based foods in nutrition. We also coordinate events with the campus student club “Anteaters for Animals” to educate students about Vegan dining, nutrition and to help the club promote its presence on campus. Events include cooking demonstrations, educational games, and sampling days.
We produce a Vegan & Vegetarian Guide to Eating brochure which highlights Vegan and Vegetarian food offerings for all retail eateries. All locations have easily identifiable Vegan, Vegetarian, Made without Gluten, Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance, and Organic labels. These labels allow customers to quickly identify items that align with their dietary choices.
Farm-to-Fork themed meals are hosted in both of our dining halls to highlight the sourcing of locally grown produce and to provide additional educational materials about the benefits of locally grown produce. Vegan entrees and numerous vegan options are available at every meal period in both of our residential dining halls. A comprehensive line of grab and go Vegan entrees and other food products are available in our 5 campus convenience stores and in select retail locations across campus.
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Outreach Efforts to Support Learning and Research About Sustainable Food Systems
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Sustainability Interns We partner with the UCI Center for Environmental Biology to host “Campus as a Living Lab” interns working on projects related to waste minimization and waste diversion in the campus dining program. Additionally, we work with the UC Global Food Initiative to host GFI food fellows focused on sustainable food-systems projects and research, as well as host 2-3 Social Ecology interns that assist UCI Dining at events focused on sustainability.
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Zot Zero: Waste Sorting App Students were given a hands-on opportunity to create an app that would help benefit the university and our sustainability goals. An interactive waste-sorting app was developed to increase the accuracy of waste separation on campus. UCI Dining worked with students from the Information and Computer Science Student Council and also partnered with an on-campus group called Zero Waste Anteaters to further drive that initiative.
Zot Bins Digital Waste Bins, a subgroup of ZotBins, deployed digital waste bins in the West Food Court and BC’s Cavern Food Court to show tips and tricks to promote Zero Waste, and to increase people’s knowledge on correct ways to dispose of trash. These bins educate users on where exactly the trash belongs by displaying specific items within that food court on the digital screens so customer can quickly identify which bin that particular items belongs in.
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