Campus Dining 2030 and Beyond - 131

Session 6
THE THINK TANK
Top Controllable Drivers & How to Leverage or Strengthen Them
CAMPUS EXPECTATIONS FOR SUSTAINABILITY
The campus-wide expectations for sustainability are often greater than the capacity of the institution and
the willingness of everyone to participate. For example, students and staff may articulate how important
recycling plastics is to them personally, but they may not be willing to walk further to use the appropriate
receptacle. Thus, it is important to educate the students and staff around sustainability, what it means on
campus, and how they can actively and passively participate in these efforts.
Taking it one step further, foodservice providers should advocate for sustainability on behalf of the
organization and the student. It is not enough to passively accept the organization's sustainability initiatives.
Instead, a proactive approach should be undertaken to involve additional departments across the campus.
For example, many campuses have faculty that teach and conduct research in the sustainability space.
These valuable institutional resources should be leveraged to formulate and devise appropriate and
innovative ways to execute sustainability efforts institution-wide.
SUSTAINABILITY AS PART OF THE RFP PROCESS
There is an opportunity within the procurement space to encourage and support sustainability and CSR
through formalizing requirements around these issues within the RFP process. While it may not be possible
to make all purchases with CSR and sustainability at the forefront, including requirements that CSR and
sustainability be focal points for a specific percentage of purchases can ensure that these issues are
considered and addressed as frequently and substantially as possible. Additionally, requiring explanations
and justifications for when purchases are made from organizations where sustainability or CSR are not
apparent is strongly encouraged. Actively pursuing partnerships through the RFP process with
sustainability-focused and minority- and women-owned businesses validates and advances sustainability
and CSR. However, it is not enough to make one-time purchases from these vendors. Rather, the foodservice
provider and procurement office should commit to ongoing relationships to ensure these vendors can
thrive. These ongoing relationships can support those businesses to scale their operations to meet the needs
of the campus community, thus providing them the opportunity to grow.
IDENTIFYING AND APPLYING FOR GRANTS
Lastly, the importance of identifying and applying for grants was underscored as a driver that should be
enhanced. In identifying existing grant opportunities, this not only generates potential additional funding
for the operation, but it also helps with idea generation surrounding important CSR and sustainability topics.
Additionally, it was noted that sometimes the mere act of applying opens doors.
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Campus Dining 2030 and Beyond

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