Dining
Students, faculty, and staff have many dining options on-campus and in the College Park area. Most on-campus options are provided by the University's own Dining Services but a few other shops, such as the Maryland Food Co-op, also provide healthy, local, and sustainable food choices.
Dining Services
Dining Services is constantly looking for new opportunities to promote a more sustainable dining experience. By staying current on changes in the marketplace, partnering with other departments on campus and involving students, significant progress has been made over the last five years. Some key efforts include the elimination of bottled water from residential dining, increased collection of compost and recyclable materials, providing reusable mugs and water bottles to the campus community, upgraded kitchen equipment/lighting to reduce energy use and much, much more. Take a look…
Compostable Carry-Out
In January 2009, Dining Services launched its New Year’s Resolution to eliminate the use of Polystyrene foams in all non-licensed dining operations across campus. To celebrate this resolution, three-compartment take-out containers were replaced with bagasse compostable trays and the polystyrene hot and cold beverage and soup cups were replaced with recyclable coated paper cups. This change has resulted in one million fewer Styrofoam trays being added to the campus waste stream annually.
In addition, Dining Services began an educational/information campaign to encourage students and the larger campus community to EAT-IN the dining halls rather than carry-out. This campaign resulted in a fifteen percent decrease in the number of carry-out containers used – way to go Dining Terps!
Compostable Catering Options
Dining Services offers customers the option of purchasing compostable plates, cups, forks, spoons, and knives for catered events. Major campus events including Maryland Day, the Student Affairs End of Year Celebration, and the SGA Spring Barbecue were served on compostable dinnerware. Dining Services provided receptacles for composting, for recycling, and for trash and ensured that the dinnerware and any food waste collected was composted.
The Dining Services composting program continues to grow. The Adele Stamp Student Union was added in 2008 as the newest composting location on campus. Each of the food service operations in the Union participate in the pre-consumer food waste composting program. In the dining halls, pre and post-consumer food waste is composted. The quantity of food waste going to compost grew from an average of 15 tons per month in FY2007 to 20 tons in FY2009. In addition, Dining Services has purchased food pulpers and hydro-extractors for its dishrooms in all residential dining halls. Installation is anticipated in the fall semester 2009 and these devices will improve the consistency of the compost material, making it more valuable to compost haulers or for future use right here on campus.
Eliminating Bottled Water
Dining Services removed all bottled water from the resident dining halls in the fall semester, 2007 and installed complimentary triple filtered water stations for student use. "Bottled water is a popular and controversial product at universities," says Joe Mullineaux, Senior Associate Director of Dining Services. Mullineaux is delighted to see students saving money and reducing their environmental impact by refilling water bottles at the water stations. By reusing bottles, students are helping to reduce the over 22 billion water bottles that end up in landfills or incinerators each year and they are preventing greenhouse gas emissions associated with transporting bottled water.
Some people have concerns about the safety of tap water. Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, municipal water systems are constantly and thoroughly tested for harmful substances. The triple filtration process used in the dining hall removes even more impurities, resulting in safe and refreshing water for campus diners.
Fair Trade Coffee
While it is difficult to track the amount of coffee purchased from commercial franchises on campus such as those in the Stamp Student Union food court, the University is better able to account for the coffee sold in campus operated facilities. Resident dining halls serve only fair trade coffee throughout the year and the independently worker-owned Maryland Food Collective (known on campus as the "Co-op") located in the basement of the Stamp Student Union sells approximately 1,400 pounds of coffee each year—100 percent of which comes from fair trade beans.
Reusable Cold Beverage Bottles
Partnering with Resident Life, Dining Services distributed 4,800 reusable cold beverage/water bottles to resident students in fiscal 2009 for use at water stations and soda fountains in resident dining rooms, convenience shops, and other campus operations that accept dining plan points. When students refill the bottle rather than use a to-go cup, they save twenty cents on the price of the beverage. During November and December, resident students purchased over 7,000 refills. This year, Dining Services is offering the reduced price with the use of any reusable mug or bottle in all of its locations across campus.
Composting and Recycling
Through a partnership with a local contractor, pre- and post-consumer food waste in the Diner and South Campus Dining Hall is taken off campus daily and composted. On average, twenty tons of food waste is composted each month – WOW! And, all used cooking oils are collected by a company that converts them to biodiesel.
Dining Service staff, like their colleagues in the Division of Student Affairs, are diligent recyclers of cardboard, mixed paper, bottles, cans, motor oil, tires, batteries, fluorescent light tubes, refrigerants and other chemicals, scrap metals and toner cartridges.
Waste Reduction
A number of measures have been taken to reduce the amount of waste generated in the dining facilities. Dining hall chefs cook food to order, which is operationally complex but results in higher food quality and dramatically reduces leftovers and waste. Napkins are located on dining room tables instead of the serving line resulting in a 50 percent reduction in usage and Micro-filtration techniques are used to extend the life of cooking oils - the use of those oils has been reduced by half. Paperwork has been reduced for the department as they have streamlined the accounting process and cut down on the number of paper copies required by the business office.
Dining Services has evaluated the packaging of all its products from manufacturers. Many suppliers, including Pepsi and Frito Lay, are required to reuse packaging in which their products are delivered. Some products, such as ketchup and pickles, are purchased in pouch packages that are lighter in weight and use less material than traditional packaging. This reduces the amount of waste and the lighter weight saves fuel during shipping. Dining Services has set a requirement for suppliers to pick up and reuse wood shipping pallets.
Salvage and Reuse
While Dining Services strives to minimize un-sold leftovers, food that may not be efficiently reused in a timely method but is still safe for consumption is donated to the DC Central Kitchen for distribution to area homeless shelters. Excess equipment and supplies are sent to Terrapin Trader for sale or are recycled within the units. Footnotes Cafe in McKeldin Library was built entirely from equipment and supplies repaired or modified for the space. Half of the equipment used for expansion of the Commons Shop was reclaimed from other locations. Equipment that outlives its useful life and cannot be repaired is dismantled and components are recycled.
Outdoor Environment
Dining Services switched to biodegradable cleaning products for any areas where the products could reach the outside environment. Containment devices were constructed to prevent cooking oils from leaking and entering the streams or stormwater collection. The department has converted or purchased over 1000 refrigeration systems to more environmentally friendly HCFC refrigerants.
Public Education
Dining Services works with the Residence Hall Association and other student groups to provide information and education on recycling and environmental concerns in general as well as specifically encouraging the guests of the Dining Rooms to use china, glasses, and flatware while eating in the Dining Halls.
The Future
Dining Services is constantly looking for opportunities to reduce its environmental footprint. Its recent initiatives to eliminate Styrofoam and to engage the campus community in efforts to reduce the use of to-go packaging are examples of its commitment to change. As the department moves into fiscal 2010 these efforts will continue and an equipment upgrade/change-out pilot program in collaboration with Facilities Management will begin at The Diner.
Additionally, as the Denton Dining Hall is renovated it will be at least LEED Silver certified and will feature green roof technology. The inclusion of a green roof could result in lowered energy use in the building, cool the surrounding areas in the summer, provide a better view to students in nearby resident halls, clean the air, and grow organic herbs for use in recipes. Now that’s Dining going green!
Maryland Food Collective (The Co-op)
The Co-op is a student owned and operated food store located in the basement of the Stamp Student Union. Besides being the best place on campus to find vegetarian and vegan food options, almost all food and products in the Co-op are organic and come from local growers/suppliers.