CDT Fall 2022 - 42

Serving Humane Farm Animal
Care cage-free eggs in the
residential dining program.
Constantly driven to innovation and being at the
forefront of technological advancement, Chartwells
Higher Education and the University of Houston
(UH) Dining Services equally strive to responsibly
steward their natural resources. While Starship
mobile units traverse campus sidewalks to deliver
student meals, back-of-the-house simultaneously
diverts solid waste to local composting service,
Zero Waste, effectively mitigating the otherwise
harmful net result of methane gas production
secondary to landfill accumulation. Using a
program called Waste Not 2.0, associates reduce
food waste costs. With a user-friendly tablet in
key kitchen locations, associates are educated on
how to easily separate and digitally record both
the amount and type of waste before adding
to composting bins. Data collected over a oneyear
period reveals more than 29 tons of waste
have been salvaged by composting efforts, even
post-rebound from a global pandemic. Moreover,
Waste Not allows chefs and managers to isolate
root causes of waste-overproduction, poor
food quality, and mistakes-and troubleshoot
with personnel on methods of waste reduction,
furthering an environmental forward approach.
Since 2011, UH has maintained a top green
university ranking by the Princeton Review
and silver rating from The Association for the
Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education
(AASHE) Sustainability Tracking, Assessment &
Rating System™ (STARS®). The STARS program
assesses multiple facets of sustainability, which
include purchasing locally or from disadvantaged
businesses, with a plant forward, ethical sourcing
approach. UH Dining believes in a brighter future
via a more sustainable today, and thus offer
Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance coffee in catering,
retail, and residential dining concepts, in addition
to cage-free Humane Farm Animal Care eggs in
our residential dining program. All fish in residential
dining concepts are ethically sourced as approved
by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch
program, and one hundred percent of dairy
products used in residential dining concepts are
antibiotic- and rBGH- free. With 54 percent of meal
options served being vegan or vegetarian, among
a myriad of other criteria, such as offering nondairy
milk options and vegan labeled desserts, UH Dining
holds an 'A' on its People for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals (PETA) report card.
42 CAMPUS DINING TODAY | BEST PRACTICES FOR A BRIGHTER TOMORROW
CDT Fall 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CDT Fall 2022
