Dining Services

Goals

• Purchase and serve foods from species that are sustainably harvested. 
• Purchase local and organic foods when they are available and affordable.  
• Reduce food and packaging waste. 
• Compost food waste and dispose of non-food waste in a sustainable manner.
• Increase awareness of sustainability initiatives used in dining operations.

 Practices and Accomplishments                                           

• In response to concerns about overfishing, Dining Services no longer serves Blue Fin Tuna,
  Atlantic Cod, or Chilean Sea Bass.  Atlantic Sea Scallops, Farm-raised and Gulf Shrimp,
  Redfish, Red Snapper, Black Sea Bass, Swordfish, and Winter Flounder are served on a
  limited basis.
• Pre- and post-consumer food waste from the dining halls is collected and composted. For
  more details click here.
• Dining Services began a reusable mug campaign in 1991. Currently, incoming first-years
  are given a reusable mug to cut down on the number of paper cups used for take-and-go coffee.
  The campus sandwich and soup shop (The Spa) discounts coffee and tea refills when
  customers use their own mug.
• Mary Low Commons dining hall (Foss) removed all paper cups in September of 2003. 
  Johnson-Chaplin Commons dining hall (Roberts) removed paper cups in January, 2004. In
  March of 2004 Lovejoy Commons dining hall (Dana), with the support of EAG, began a "Paperless
  Thursday" program.
• Whenever possible, Dining Services purchases foods that are packaged in bulk (such as
  cream, butter, jelly, peanut butter, cereal, milk, juice and soda), to reduce the amount of
  waste from packaging.
• Unbleached napkins made from recycled paper are available at each table, reducing napkin
  use by a case per month per hall.
• Through "just-in-time" production and the use of historical production records, 94 - 97% of
  all food produced is utilized by the consumer.
• All waste oils and fats are saved and collected by Baker Commodities for recycling.
• China and flatware are used whenever possible to avoid the use of disposables. Only linen
  or reusable vinyl tablecloths are used.
• When the Lovejoy Commons dining hall (Dana) was renovated the old tables were saved,
  refinished, and reused in the newly renovated space.
• For cleaning we use the most environmentally-friendly chemicals possible. These chemicals
  are mechanically dispensed to reduce the amount used.

  To view Colby Dining Service's Environment page click here