The list of Food & Recycling Leaders is comprised of 119 schools that earned “A” grades in this category. Below is a sample of 14 very different institutions that all received high marks. These summaries are based on data from each school’s profile page.
Arizona State University
All residential dining halls at ASU went trayless in the fall of 2008. Dining services works with 50 local growers and producers to supply canned, dried, and frozen goods, as well as produce, dairy, and meat. Furthermore, the university sources oranges, dates, herbs, and produce from on-campus gardens and trees. Engrained Café is a new restaurant on campus committed to locally grown food and environmentally responsible practices.
Berea College
Berea purchases produce, meat, and grains from the Berea College Gardens, which are certified organic and staffed by students. The college purchases a number of organic dry goods and sustainably produced eggs and meat. Ten percent of the tea and rice, as well as all coffee served in dining, retail, and catering operations, is fair trade. The dining hall is transitioning to trayless dining, and 90 percent of food waste is composted.
Bowdoin College
In addition to operating an organic vegetable and herb garden, dining services purchases local food from 100 sources. All milk, cream, sour cream, and cottage cheese in the dining halls are hormone-free, and 30 percent of eggs are cage-free. There are at least two vegan entrées available at every meal. Through a tray-optional program, voluntary trayless dining has increased to 30 percent in the past year.
Case Western University
The dining halls look to local sources first when buying food, spending 35 percent of the food budget on local items. Dining services offers fair trade coffee, sustainably harvested seafood, and hormone-free milk. Case Western purchases exclusively confinement- and hormone-free poultry. Kitchen scraps are composted at the Cleveland Botanical Garden. During the university's Low Carbon Diet program, dining halls cut food waste by 18 percent.
Colby University
Colby spends 20 percent of its food budget on local items from well over 100 farmers and producers. A student-run garden provides about 3,000 pounds of food annually. All milk and yogurt is hormone-free and all seafood meets Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch guidelines. Reusable cups may be taken out of the dining hall and returned later. All food scraps are composted. There is a clothing swap during Earth Week and a program to reuse furniture left behind after move-out.
College of the Atlantic
The college purchases food from 11 local farms and uses some produce from the campus's organic farm, as well as the campus community garden. All eggs and meat are confinement-free, and nearly all beef is grass-fed. COA purchases hormone-free meat and dairy. Dining halls use only reusable dishware and have eliminated trays. All food waste is composted and bottled water is not sold on campus.
Goucher College
Goucher has a comprehensive local and organic food policy with a goal to first purchase items within a 150 mile radius. Goucher also offers cage-free eggs, hormone-free beef and poultry, fair trade coffee, and seafood that meets Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch guidelines. Vegan entrees are available at each meal in all dining locations, and a trayless dining program was implemented in 2008. Goucher has on-site composting for all landscaping waste and organic waste from dining halls. All grease from dining halls is sent to a facility that converts it to biodiesel fuel.
Lawrence University
Dining services purchased more than 2,000 pounds of produce from the student garden last year. The university serves only cage-free eggs, hormone- and antibiotic-free poultry and beef, and hormone-free milk. All seafood is purchased in accordance with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch guidelines. Some food scraps are composted at the student garden, dining halls are trayless, and reusable beverage containers are given to students to reduce the need for disposable cups. The university holds a furniture and clothing swap to reduce waste.
Miami University
Miami held an interactive forum between local farmers and dining services chefs to incorporate local foods into menus. The university currently sources from approximately 30 local producers, including a dairy. Disposable plates and utensils are made from postconsumer recycled or biodegradable materials. Miami composts 100 percent of its landscaping waste.
Oklahoma State University
Local dairy, produce, beef, and chicken from five different farms are featured on campus menus. Beginning in fall 2009, a Made-in-Oklahoma Day will be held each month, with all items labeled as to where in Oklahoma they were made or processed. Local vendors will be featured throughout the year to offer samples of their Oklahoma products. Dining services purchases sustainably caught seafood as well as fair trade coffee and sugar. In order to reduce waste, dining halls are trayless, and food waste audits are conducted in an effort to reduce waste.
Pacific Lutheran University
Dining services purchases from a local dairy, and all milk is hormone- and antibiotic-free. Herbs from the PLU community garden, as well as cage-free eggs and grass-fed beef, are used in dining halls. A composting program, which has expanded to offices and residence halls, collects all food waste and some packaging. PLU also implemented the Can the Can program in which PLU community members traded their large office trash cans for 1.5 liter cans, helping to achieve the university's 71 percent diversion rate.
Saint Mary’s College
Saint Mary's spends 40 percent of its annual food budget on local items. Dining services also sources over 200 pounds of food each week from an on-campus garden. The college purchases exclusively hormone- and antibiotic-free milk and fair trade-certified coffee. All dining facilities compost preconsumer food waste, and a program to compost postconsumer waste is slated to begin in spring 2010. All dining facilities have been trayless since spring 2008.
Vassar College
The college purchases root crops and winter squash from the Vassar Farm, and greenhouses on campus supply the dining halls with fresh herbs. The farm also serves as community supported agriculture for Poughkeepsie. The college spends 20 percent of the annual food budget on local items and aims to purchase 40 percent of foods locally by 2013. All eggs purchased are cage-free, and dining facilities serve exclusively fair trade coffee. The campus dining facilities became trayless in August 2008.
Wash University in St. Louis
Dining Services provides 20 percent of food from purveyors within 150 miles, participates in a Farm to Fork program and holds an annual Eat Local Challenge featuring meals made completely from local ingredients. Herbs are sourced from on-campus student and staff run gardens. The university serves some organic produce and only fair trade coffee and bananas. All beef, pork, and poultry products are antibiotic-free.