Current Green Strides at Colgate
- Free Trade coffee is available
daily. This coffee is both environmentally friendly and socially
responsible.
- Post-consumer recycled content napkins are
dispensed at tables, promoting as-needed use, and less waste.
- We are required and do recycle all
appropriate paper, glass and plastic on a daily basis.
- The napkins that we offer are made of
recycled paper, and are not bleached white, but are brown. We also offer them at
each table to help reduce waste.
- We do not offer any Styrofoam
packaging.
- Our Recycled Mug Program, we sell at the
Coop for $2.50 each with product. Refills on all beverages are discounted with
the cup.
- Sodexho nationally donates $.15 per cup
sold to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. We sell about 300 -400 cups a
year.
Research/Progress
Made
- Student GIS projects and outside
contractors used to find potential Composting Facility sites in the
area
- Student projects with CORE 114 (Ecology,
Ethics, and Wilderness) demonstrating the amount of food wastes in our dining
halls
- SEA (Students for Environmental Action)
C.U.P.P.S. (Can’t Use Paper, Plastic, Styrofoam) campaign. SEA gives away
reusable mugs at the COOP along with a green ribbon pledge in the fall.
(Formerly, mugs were distributed to all First Years without a campaign through
Link Group leaders.)
Initiatives at other
Universities/Communities
- Illinois Wesleyan University: A
Green Task Force was formed during 2000 comprised of students, faculty, staff
and administrators. It was established to assist in reducing IWU’s
environmental footprint. In terms of dining hall initiatives, Sodexho Food
Service has agreed to participate in the recycling program (accepting more
products than previous efforts). Also, “the dining committee will educate
and encourage students to waste less food, and will work with Sodexho Food
Service to consider composting food and donating unserved food to local
shelters.” (Source: Campus Ecology, National Wildlife
Federation).
Composting Projects
The use of composting to turn organic
waste into a valuable resource is gaining in popularity, especially as landfill
space becomes more scarce and expensive. Composting is an easy and inexpensive
way to reduce food and yard waste, and to maintain healthy soils. Everything
from coffee grounds to eggshells to autumn leaves can be transformed into rich
gardening materials. On campus, this natural process can be used to convert
"garbage" from the dining halls and landscaped areas into an invaluable
resource! (Campus Ecology, National Wildlife
Federation).
- Alfred University, NY: Alfred State
students are getting a lesson in... garbage. They’re working with college
staff to create a composting site for dining hall waste, and are
incorporating their project into the classroom (Campus Ecology, National
Wildlife Federation).
- Western Colorado College: This
school’s students are “warming up” to the idea of composting!
To reduce the hundreds of pounds of food waste coming daily from the dining
hall, students in this cold-climate school constructed a greenhouse to be used
for an innovative composting program (Campus Ecology, National Wildlife
Federation, 2002).
- UMASS, Amherst, MA: This university
composts seven to ten tons of food waste each week. Plumbing and landfill
costs are down, while the compost product is used in landscaping. (Campus
Ecology, National Wildlife Federation,
1999)
- Ithaca College, NY: Composting food
waste in a state-of-the-art facility saves the university more than $10,000
per year. (Campus Ecology, National Wildlife Federation,
1999)
- Middlebury College, VT: The school had
been collecting food waste since 1993 and composting it offsite, but for the
first time, started composting onsite. (Campus Ecology, National Wildlife
Federation, 1998)
Potential Green Strides at Colgate
Individual
Site
Specific
- More vegetarian meals
available
- Food waste charts –map week by week
and place above tray return
- Composting at all College
Houses
- Organic fruits and veggies, cage free eggs
and meat (in dining halls)
University
- Hire local caterer for dining rather than
Sodhexo
- Buy more local produce
- Reduce/remove genetically modified foods
in dining halls
- Composting of all food waste on
campus
- Organic/Free Trade Coffee and Tea always
available as an option in all dining facilities and in all
offices
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