The National Association of College and University Food Services (NACUFS) recently announced the gold, silver, and bronze winners for its annual sustainability awards. There were multiple awards in different categories, with some schools winning across several sections.
The University of Michigan (U-M) won gold in the Sustainable Procurement, Waste Reduction, and Outreach and Education. It also won silver in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion/Social Justice category and bronze for innovation in catering.
The Wolverines held “Sustainable Mondays,” where dining hall chefs made meals with low-emission meats like poultry and plant-based protein.
This campaign took place across nine campus cafeterias. Sustainable Mondays began in January 2022 as part of the Graham Sustainability Institute’s Carbon Neutrality Acceleration Program (CNAP). Carbon labels are on all residential dining halls, retail, and catering menu signage.
In a U-M Student Life article, Keith Soster, MDining director of Sustainability, Student, and Community Engagement, said that the labels “[support] the efforts to be socially responsible while contributing to environmental sustainability.”
Photo Courtesy Erika Fletcher
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill earned silver in Sustainable Procurement, Best Local Foods Recipe, Retail Sales, and Waste Reduction. The Tar Heels worked with local North Carolina farmers to source 25% of dining services’ food, stimulating the local economy and keeping a low carbon footprint. The college ran a stringent recycling and waste diversion program, offering educational programs for students on proper waste disposal.
The Creamy Carolina Rice Grit Bowl won silver for its use of local foods, using seven local ingredients from the state. The Scoop ice cream shop won silver for using local dairy from Maple View Farm, only 10 miles from the Chapel Hill campus. The school also won awards for its allergy accommodations and healthy food innovations from non-NACUFS dining organizations.
SUNY Cortland, The University of Chicago, Elon University, Boston College (BC), and the University of Montana were all winners of bronze.
BC and Cortland were honored for their work in waste reduction. The upstate New York college focused on reducing students’ food waste by teaching them better portion control.
The school had students guess the weight of post-consumer waste on Earth Day 2023. This effort led to other initiatives in the Cortland dining halls, like biodegradable straws and cutlery, less expired food, and more eco-conscious cooking practices.
“An enormous amount of post-consumer waste is stuff people decided they didn’t want to eat because they took too much on their plate,” Nichole Edwards, associate vice president of SUNY Cortland Auxiliary Services, explained to the campus news detail.
Photo Courtesy BC Dining
Meanwhile, BC won gold for Wellness and Nutrition Program of the Year, another NACUFS award. Students had to pay for each food item individually in a move to assist waste reduction efforts, leaving them less inclined to waste food. The Eagles also worked with Save That Stuff, a Boston-area waste collector and process to manage food waste sustainably. In 2023 alone, 318 tons of food waste were composted, a 17% decrease from pre-COVID times.
College campuses have long been centers of social activism. These food service decisions continue up to the C-Suite executives running these institutions. Environmental actions will play a prominent role in sustainability education and reducing collective carbon footprints.
