Sustainability

• UVM Dining has a long history of partnering with local farmers, producers, and distributors to help build and maintain a strong local and regional food system. Local food not only tastes great; it helps support the local economy, and the working lands of Vermont and reduces the miles that food travels before it gets to our plate.
• We partner with Black River Produce and The Intervale Food Hub, who provide local, regional, and sustainable produce, dairy, meat, and specialty foods to campus. We are also proud to support UVM's agricultural programs, including the Catamount Education Farm, and Proctor Maple Research Center.
• UVM Dining is a proud member and recognized Gold Barn Honoree of the Vermont Fresh Network (VFN). To qualify as a Gold Barn honoree, we must achieve impressive localvore standards, including sourcing ingredients from 15-individual farm partners (10 of who are VFN farms). Additionally, 35% or over $350,000 of food purchases must be made from Vermont producers or locally grown/raised food products. We purchase products from about 40-VFN member farms through our local food distributors. We are also a key sponsor and participant in the Vermont Fresh Network Annual Forum. View our VFN profile.
• Vermont Farm to Plate is the statewide initiative legislatively directed to increase economic development and jobs in Vermont’s farm and food sector and improve access to healthy local food for all Vermonters. A ten-year plan to strengthen the working landscape, build the resilience of farms and food enterprises, improve environmental quality, and increase healthy, local food access for all Vermonters is being implemented by over 350 farm and food sector organizations from across the state.
• UVM Dining commits to supporting the production and purchase of local food across Vermont to accomplish Farm to Plate goals: to increase the amount of Vermont food products consumed by Vermonters, local food production, and the amount of locally produced food available in Vermont institutions.

UVM released its Comprehensive Sustainability Plan in Spring 2023, which charts a path to campus climate neutrality by 2030 and outlines specific goals in decarbonization, governance and people, campus operations, and research and learning.

** The food and dining goals as part of this plan are:**

• Increase spending on Vermont-grown food to 25% by 2030 from the 2020 baseline.

• Prioritize food purchasing from diverse suppliers where possible (i.e., minority/women-owned).

• Support access to healthy, local food for the campus community.

We are also working on decreasing food and packaging waste in partnership with the Office of Sustainability.

Catamount Educational Farm - UVM Dining has had a partnership with UVM’s Catamount Educational Farm since its inception in 2014. During the fall, we purchase organic vegetables and apples from the farm, which are grown and harvested by the student farmers in the Farmer Training Program. We meet with Catamount Farm staff each year to develop a crop plan based on our expected needs for the following seasons. Our continued support helps grow this academic program and strengthens our local food system.

Proctor Maple Research Center - In the fall of 2015, UVM Dining began exclusively purchasing maple syrup from UVM's Proctor Maple Research Center, located in Underhill, Vermont. Chefs order weekly to ensure UVM students and staff always have a consistent stock of Vermont's most famous product.

In 2014, UVM Dining and Sodexo launched Vermont First, a first-of-its-kind program committing Sodexo to track local food spending and increase local purchasing across its Vermont institutional markets. Since its inception, the aim of Vermont First has been to grow market opportunities for local producers, stimulate job growth, and ensure the viability of Vermont's working lands. We do this through strategic purchasing shifts, collaboration with stakeholders, and increasing consumer awareness.

We track our local food spending each year to provide transparency about our purchasing and develop strategies to increase locally grown and/or manufactured products. Our definition of "local" is in line with the Vermont Farm to Plate definition, grown or processed in Vermont.

Keep exploring: Read on below, visit their website, and follow them on Instagram or LinkedIn for the latest information.

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Vermont First Featured Commitments

Harvest of the Month: Through Harvest of the Month, we encourage our customers to eat with the season and support regional resiliency. We commit to using a seasonal local product each month and work with the Intervale Food Hub and Black River Produce to create standing orders to deliver to campus each week. Working with our vendors months in advance helps support growers and suppliers with crop planning and budget forecasting. Harvest of the Month not only supports local economies but also helps our students eat locally and seasonally year-round.

Local Ground Beef Program: In collaboration with Black River Meats, we commit to using local ground beef each month. This partnership, which started in 2018, has helped us increase purchasing of local beef and creates a reliable market for Vermont dairy farmers who historically transported cattle to sell to out-of-state markets where prices are unpredictable. Additionally, Black River requires all participating farms to follow humane animal and sustainable crop management practices. Did you know? Over 75% of the ground beef served on campus is local?

New England Food Vision Prize:The New England Food Prize was launched through the Henry P. Kendall Foundation in 2018. This annual prize is a $1 million commitment (projects can receive $20,000 - $200,000), aimed at building resiliency and capacity within New England's academic institutional food supply chain, resulting in increased preparation, serving and consumption of local and regional food. UVM Dining is proud to have partnered on three winning projects since its inception.

Northeast Organic Family Farm Partnership (NOFFP): In the spring of 2022, we proudly signed onto the Northeast Organic Family Farm Partnership (NOFFP). This campaign was developed in response to Horizon Organic ending contracts with 135 organic farms in New England and New York, 28 of those being in Vermont. Signing onto this pledge displays our commitment to support the local, organic dairy farmers that were impacted by this change. We have committed to increase our purchasing of NOFFP partners year over year. We proudly purchase yogurt from Butterworks Farm, Larson Farm and Creamery, and Von Trapp Farmstead for use in the dining halls and retail locations, and offer milk and half and half from Miller Farm in select locations on campus.

As individuals become more aware of the impacts that their food choices have on the environment, many decide to shift their dietary patterns to eating more vegetarian and vegan options. Promoting plant-based eating is a critical strategy in addressing climate change, as plant-based ingredients have lower greenhouse gas emissions and are a healthy and delicious option. We are striving for 50% of the entrees in the dining halls to be plant-based by 2025.

We pride ourselves on the variety of vegetarian, vegan, and plant-based dining options that we offer, including offering several exclusive vegetarian/plant-based stations on campus. Most on-campus locations use vegetarian/vegan/plant-based logos on menus and signage to help consumers identify foods that meet their preferences. Plus, we continually develop new plant-based recipes and train our culinary team, to help ensure that our offerings are not only nutritionally balanced, but they also taste great.

Menu Keys:

• Vegetarian (V) = no meat products
• Vegan (VG) = no meat or animal by-products, including white sugar and honey
• Plant-based (leaf logo) = no meat or animal by-products, but can include white sugar and honey

We are proud to serve 100% cage-free eggs on-campus since 2014. We do not use any powdered eggs on-campus. In Fall of 2023, we committed to purchasing all of our “shell” eggs from Maple Meadow, a local farm in Salisbury, VT.

We are committed to serving sustainable seafood, purchased at fair market value and sourced from providers that ensure the highest level of quality assurance and food safety along with adherence to global standards of excellence for environmental responsibility and accountability in seafood. Our seafood ordering guide prohibits purchasing items that do not meet our high sustainability standards. Credible Eco certifications for seafood were decided upon in partnership with the World Wildlife (WWF) and in accordance to the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI), including Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), Alaska Responsible Fisheries Management (RFM), Best Aquaculture Certification (BAP), and Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC).

Red's Best, from Boston, MA, is one of our primary seafood providers. They are committed to complete transparency in the seafood supply chain, providing a livable income for fisher people and creating markets for abundant, underutilized seafood species.

·100% of the coffee served on campus in UVM Dining locations is sourced from locally owned companies. We currently feature Speeder and Earl’s (Burlington, VT) and Vermont Artisan Coffee and Tea Co. (Waterbury, VT) in our retail locations and Mountain Grove Coffee (White River Jct, VT) in our dining halls. Whenever possible, we source Fair Trade coffee and tea, to ensure that farmers and roasters are paid a fair price for their products.

EcoWare, our reusable takeout container program, helps minimize the use of single-use containers and increases the flexibility of meal plans by allowing meals to-go from our dining halls. This program also helps to reduce carbon emissions and save water! UVM Dining is committed to reducing packaging waste and has had an EcoWare program since 2011

• Starting in Fall 2024, UVM Dining implemented ReusePass, a web-based app and technology that will expand access to the program and provide improved reusable container usage data.

• Here’s how it works! After signing up, you will have a QR code on your mobile device. When you are ready to check out an Ecoware container, you will scan your ReusePass and the cashier will scan the QR code on the container, “checking out” that particular container to your account, similar to checking out books at the library.

• Students, staff, and faculty are now eligible to participate in the program, free of charge! To keep this program running, we do need to ensure that containers are returned in a timely manner. Any containers not returned within the return period (3-5 days from check out), will be charged $5.00 per container at the end of the semester to a student account.

• EcoWare containers are leak-resistant, BPA-free, dishwasher/freezer safe, and can be used up to 300 times. They are made from 20-30% recyclable materials. Please DO NOT MICROWAVE the containers, as it will damage the RFID chip, which our team uses to keep track of EcoWare. Your container might be recognized as returned and you could be charged.

How to Download the ReusePass app

• Go to app.reusepass.com/uvm. Enter your phone number and sign up using your UVM email/net ID. Before using ReusePass, you’ll be asked to acknowledge the terms and conditions of the program.
• Receive your own personal ReusePass QR code.

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Pro Tips:

• Save QR code to your Apple Wallet by clicking on the “Add to Apple Wallet button”.
• Have an Android/Google Wallet? Take a screenshot of your QR code, open your Google Wallet and add as an ID, coupon, or under the “everything else” category.
• You can also bookmark the webpage on the home screen of your phone, so it operates like an app. You’ll be able how many containers you have checked out and when they are due back, plus your personal sustainability metrics!

The first time you check out a container, you’ll receive a text message outlining the basics of the program. You’ll also receive text message reminders to return checked out containers that are due back. See ReusePass Timeline.

Using EcoWare in our Dining Halls

Please note that using our EcoWare program is the only way to take food out of the four dining halls. The use of personal Tupperware containers is not allowed. Per the Vermont Department of Health, reusable containers must be washed and sanitized by Dining Services to ensure food safety.

• Inform the cashier you would like to get an EcoWare meal before you swipe into the dining halls. You can now check out both a soup container and regular container at the same meal! You may only check out one of each container per meal period, but there is no limit on how many containers you can have checked out at once.
• Pull up your ReusePass QR code in your mobile wallet. The cashier will scan the QR on the container, then ask you to scan your ReusePass. If you'd like to also dine-in, please inform the cashier, and they will have you swipe your CatCard for the additional meal.
• Fill your EcoWare with food from the dining hall (we just ask that it closes).
• Leave the dining hall and enjoy your meal.
• Empty (and if possible, rinse) and return your dirty EcoWare container to any EcoWare return bin located in any dining location where EcoWare is available. Please return any containers withing 3 days of when you checked them out. If you do not return after 5 days, your account will be subject to a $5 charge per container, at the end of the semester.
• After you return your container our dining team scans, washes, and sanitizes your container so it can be used again and again. Your ReusePass account will update to reflect your return within 24-48 hours.
• Repeat to continue to participate in the program.

Using EcoWare in our Retail Locations

Ask for your meal to be served in EcoWare (available at Given Bistro, The Marketplace, the University Marché and Redstone Market). It's good for the environment and your wallet (save 25 cents each use)! Please note: EcoWare is not currently available on Everyday, our mobile food ordering app.

• Request Ecoware from the cashier or cook/server.
• Present your ReusePass QR code from your mobile wallet to cashier at checkout The cashier will scan the QR code on the container and ask for you to scan your ReusePass.
• Save 25 cents at the register.
• Enjoy your meal.
• Return your dirty container to an EcoWare return bin located in any dining location where EcoWare is available. Please return any containers withing 3 days of when you checked them out. If you do not return after 5 days, your account will be subject to a $5 charge per container, at the end of the semester.
• After you return your container our dining team scans, washes, and sanitizes your container so it can be used again and again. Your ReusePass account will update to reflect your return within 24-48 hours.
• Repeat to continue to participate in the program.

In the News:

• EcoWare Program Launches On-Campus
• Read about EcoWare History

ReusePass Frequently Asked Questions

• What is ReusePass and how do I access my account?

ReusePass is a web application that helps you track and manage which reusable containers you need to return. When you sign up for the program, a ReusePass account will be created for you. Your ReusePass account shows your reusables activity, participating locations and return bin locations. You can access your account at any time by going to app.reusepass.com/uvm and logging in using the mobile number you used during signup.

• What dining locations offer EcoWare/ReusePass?

Ecoware is available at all dining halls, for a to-go meal. It is also available at the following retail locations: Given Bistro, The Marketplace, University Marché, and Redstone Market. You’ll save 25 cents when you use at these retail locations.

• Where and how do I return my container?

Returning containers is easy! Simply compost any remaining food scraps into a compost bin then drop your empty container in one of the ReusePass return bins on campus (located in all participating locations)

• When do I need to return my container?

Containers are due back 3 days after checkout. Containers that have not been returned by the end of the 3-day checkout window will be marked as late. ReusePass will send you text message reminders when you have late containers to return them. Once a container is late, you have 48 hours to return it. Containers that are not received by the end of the late window are liable for a $5 fee.

• How long does it take for my container to be “received” after I’ve dropped in a return bin?

Containers are typically scanned by the dining team within 24hrs of drop-off, but it can sometimes take longer. If you’ve dropped your container(s) in a return bin before the due date, don’t worry, you’ve done your part! Once your container is scanned in by the dining team, it will appear as received in your account.

• Can I still return my container after it has been marked “unreturned”?

Yes! Even if you haven’t returned your container within the checkout or late period, we still want your container back so it can go back into the reuse ecosystem.

• I don't have a smart phone, can I use the Ecoware program?

Yes, you can still get a QR code to use the program! You can make an account online at a computer at app.reusepass.com/uvm. You’ll need to enter a mobile number for confirmation purposes and then sign in with your UVM email. Once you have signed up, you should be able to click the "open pass" button which will pull up your personalized Reusepass QR code. Print that QR code and carry with you in your wallet; you'll need to scan on the Scan App at the register when you want to take an Ecoware container out.

• I have an international phone number; can I participate in the program?

ReusePass doesn’t currently support international phone numbers, but don’t worry, you can still participate in the ReusePass program! Sign up for Google Voice and get a free phone number - you can use this phone number to opt-into the ReusePass program. Your ReusePass account is associated with a phone number, which means phone numbers cannot be shared across ReusePass accounts.

• Can I see my personal sustainability impact?

Yes! If you open your ReusePass account at app.reusepass.com/uvm and scroll down, you’ll see your personal “trash stats”. Stay tuned for more sustainability impact data!

To reduce the amount of single-use packaging on-campus, we offer the following options:

• We encourage the use of reusable coffee mugs (up to 24 ounces) at our UVM Dining retail locations. Choose to ReUse and save 25 cents off the price of a large coffee.
• Save 25 cents when you use EcoWare at one of our retail locations (where available).
• Save 5 cents when you bring a spork (reusable spoon/fork). Need a spork? They are sold at select UVM Dining retail locations.
• Choose reusable plates and silverware instead of disposable options, when available.
• Be sure to bring your reusable water bottles and refill them at the dedicated water stations across campus! Forgot your water bottle? You can purchase a single use cup at our cashier stations for $.50.

Did you know? In 2013, in response to a student campaign, UVM banned the sale of plain, unflavored bottled water on campus, making it one of the first public universities to make this shift. UVM provides safe, clean drinking water, so providing bottled water from another community is unnecessary. Forgot your water bottle? You can purchase a single use cup at our cashier stations for $.50.

We do our best to limit excessive packaging in our operations and are proud to only offer straws "upon request." When we do use packaging, we use recyclables products that are in line with the preferences of Chittenden Solid Waste District (CSWD). We never use Styrofoam on-campus.

With the help of UVM Zero Waste and Recycling, we have been recycling since before it was cool. All dining locations use single-stream recycling to divert cardboard, paper, metal, glass, and plastic from the landfill. Learn more about UVM's composting and recycling program.

Effective January 1, 2022, CSWD will no longer accept compostable foodware and packaging (cups, utensils, plates, straws, etc.) in their compost stream; they will continue to accept food scraps and napkins. CSWD has found that compostable packaging poses issues to their operations and degrades the quality of their compost and other soil products. UVM Dining will convert existing compostable packaging recyclable alternatives wherever possible, and encourage the use of reusables such as EcoWare, refillable mugs, and sporks to minimize the impact of this change.

Our culinary team utilizes the Leanpath program, which uses scales and tablets to help track food waste generated in our kitchens before it goes into the compost bin. While some food waste is unavoidable (for instance, the rinds of melons), much of it is due to overproduction or spoilage and can be minimized. When possible, ingredients can be properly stored to be served at another time or can be repurposed into different dishes rather than going into the compost.

We piloted this program in 2013 and have continued to expand to all UVM Dining locations. The implementation and expansion of this program has allowed us to reduce food waste from our kitchens by 50%!

Trayless dining is an operational strategy to reduce food waste. Not having a tray limits the amount of food customers can carry at one time, which can significantly reduce food waste. In our all-you-care-to-eat facilities, we encourage students to take what they need and come back for seconds if needed. Trayless dining also decreases the amount of water and energy used for washing trays.

Diverting food scraps from the landfill into the compost stream helps build healthy soil and decrease greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, UVM Dining has been composting since 1997! When you are on campus, you will sort your waste. All food scraps (including meat and bones), napkins, and bamboo stirrers should be placed in the compost. All of our compost goes to the Green Mountain Compost facility at Chittenden Solid Waste District (CSWD).

Effective January 1, 2022, CSWD will no longer accept compostable foodware and packaging (cups, utensils, plates, straws, etc.) in their compost stream; they will continue to accept food scraps and napkins. CSWD has found that compostable packaging poses issues to their operations and degrades the quality of their compost and other soil products. UVM Dining is working with UVM Recycling and Zero Waste and the Office of Sustainability to redesign the waste sorting areas on campus and to educate our community about this change. UVM Dining will convert existing compostable packaging to recyclable alternatives wherever possible and encourage the use of reusables such as EcoWare, refillable mugs, and sporks.

Since 2007, we have been teaming up annually with Eco-Reps to quantify the amount of post-consumer compost generated in our dining halls. The initiative takes place in one dining hall, for four days, during peak dinner times. At the end of each night, the waste is weighed and divided by the number of patrons who entered the dining hall during the designated collection time to estimate ounces of waste per person.

In addition, Eco-Reps help educate students about the impact of food waste on the environment, look for trends to help interpret the data, and make recommendations to decrease waste. As a result of this program, some dining locations serve grill items with buns on the side after observing that many students only wanted the chicken breast or burger and just composted the bun.

Our dining facilities produce approximately 150-200 gallons of used cooking oil each month. Since 2000, we have been diverting our used oil to be repurposed into biofuel. It currently goes to Black Bear Biofuel, located in Plainfield, Vermont, where it is turned into a renewable fuel source rather than going into the compost or waste stream.

We are committed to sending surplus food to people, not landfills. We partner with the on-campus Food Recovery Network club to divert excess edible food to Feeding Chittenden and UVM's on-campus food pantry, Rally Cat's Cupboard. We donate about 15,000 pounds of food that would otherwise go to the compost each year. Additionally, we also host food drives in our retail locations at the end of the spring semester for students to donate food items to Rally Cat's Cupboard.

We are also proud to donate 1% of proceeds from Zime Given Bistro (up to $3,000) each year to a local food pantry and have been able to provide $1,000 gift to UVM's food pantries since 2018.

UVM Dining launched Swipe out Hunger in 2018 in response to research done on-campus regarding the prevalence of food insecurity among our students. Each semester, a portion of unused Guest Meals and Meal Swipes from on-campus meal plans help fund this program for students in need. For more information or to enroll in the program visit Food Insecurity at UVM.