| ISU campus dining wins sustainability recognition |
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| Written by Emily Miller, Daily Vidette Staff Writer |
| Thursday, 12 February 2009 00:00 |
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ISU's Campus Dining Services won the 2008 Environmental Stewardship Award for helping make dining center procedures greener. CDS was given the award by Illinois State's Green Team, which awards groups around campus for being environmentally friendly. The stewardship award came with $500 for Campus Dining to put towards more environmentally friendly actions. "It's a whole lot of little things that add up to a lot," Enid Cardinal, campus sustainability coordinator, said when referring to everything the campus dining did to deserve this award. One of the most recent things CDS did was trade in a van for a hybrid car, the Toyota Prius. Before changes were made, the center was spending around $700,000 on take-out containers a year and they all ended up in a landfill, according to Dianne Feasley, assistant director of Food Service. "In our minds, that's like taking bags of money and burying it," Feasley said. In order to solve this problem, Linkins Dining Center has gone tray-less. "Some people have found this inconvenient," Cardinal said. "It's kind of a nationwide movement on a college campus," Feasley added, when referring to going tray-less. However, students can still get as much food as they would like, but it requires more trips now. They also must ask for a take-out container, rather than have them available at all times. Cardinal said that because of this new plan, they are seeing less food waste. "We are saving a lot of water and energy by not washing trays," Cardinal said. Campus Dining also created a refillable water bottle for students in an attempt to create even less waste. The next step for Campus Dining involves changes to Watterson's dining center. "The challenge is that when [Watterson] was renovated in the late 80s or early 90s, it was designed to be a dine-out style," Cardinal said. CDS has also begun sending food that would otherwise go to waste to the University Farm to be composted. Campus Dining, along with the support of Sustainable Dining Committee, also hosted a local food dinner in December 2008. "They worked with local farmers to source all of the food in that dinner, which is a huge effort," Cardinal said. With many places being overfished, CDS is trying to purchase their fish from sustainable fisheries to help make a difference as well. "In the process, we are making students more aware, especially students in the residence halls," Feasley said. "It really does have a global effect." |
