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DINING SERVICES

Smith College Dining Services is committed to incorporating sustainable practices into its day to day operations and into its future planning goals. We are particularly concerned with purchasing, recycling and waste management. As a department that interacts with most of our student body on a daily basis we also wish to set a good example through our sustainable initiatives, and to promote an ongoing educational collaborative with students on sustainability as it relates to Dining Services in the hopes that they will value and explore further sustainability initiatives when they leave Smith College.

We Buy Locally

Did you know that in the U.S.A. an average meal travels 1500 miles to reach your plate? The transportation of food products takes a heavy toll on the environment, requiring trucks to drive hundreds or even thousands of extra miles. In order to keep the food fresh while it is being transported, more packaging is needed--packaging that will eventually end up in a landfill somewhere. Not to mention that foods from far away contain fewer nutrients and generally taste worse than locally grown foods.

At Smith Dining Services we strive to buy locally whenever possible, to provide the best dining experience for students while encouraging sustainable practices. Local farms raise crops without heavy use of pesticides and other harmful chemicals, and provide a better life for livestock. Buying locally supports the local economy and helps keep these small family farms in business in a world of corporate factory farms.

Last year Smith Dining Services became members of CISA, a national organization that supports and encourages the collaboration of local farmers with local institutions and restaurants. This was done to broaden support for local farmers, as well to as increase Smith’s awareness of the importance of buying locally.

A few of the ways that Smith buys locally:

	Fair Trade/Organic/kosher coffee has been used for the past 5 years in our student dining locations and is purchased from Indigo Coffee Company, which is based in Florence, MA.

	Dining Services has used High Lawn Dairy for the past 2 years, located in Lee, MA, for our dairy products. They are a local producer and processor who use only Jersey cows which produce milk that is naturally 20% higher in calcium with 17% more protein, and further, does not contain any additives, preservatives or artificial growth rBST hormones.

	Dining Services purchases as much of their local, seasonal produce as possible from local farmers. The majority of their local produce comes from Outlook Farm in Westhampton, MA where Dining Services has been purchasing apples for the past 60 years. The local produce that Outlook Farm cannot provide at their farm they will purchase from other local farmers in the area and deliver to Smith College twice weekly with their own delivery.

	The 5 College Food Services Directors meet monthly to discuss ways to incorporate more sustainable practices into their daily operations and to explore new ways to work together in their efforts to purchase more locally grown products from local farmers and purveyors.

	Black River Produce, Dining Services other source for produce, sends an updated list of current, locally grown products and notes on the receiving invoices what is locally grown in that delivery. They are located in southern Vermont and are committed to buying and distributing as much locally grown produce as possible.

	This year Dining Services started purchasing local honey for the dining rooms from Apex Orchards in Shelburne Falls, MA.

The farms and the local produce that supply Smith College Dining Services, are listed on a link at the Dining Services menu website and are updated weekly. Click here to view this week's farms and local produce.

We Recycle


	Dining Services’ “grab & go” location has been using biodegradable flatware, napkins and to go containers for the past year. These products, along with biodegradable trash can liners, have also been used for the past 2 years at larger events, such as the All Campus BBQ,. Dining Services purchased and distributed heavy duty, nylon, “to go” backpack bags the last 2 years for the students to use & reuse for their “grab & go” items. This year Dining Services has expanded its use of compostible plates, hot & cold cups and bowls to include all student dining locations for "to go" meal items.

	Dining Services staff separates and recycles cardboard, paper, glass, cereal boxes, and plastic in all the kitchens.

	The paper dinner napkins in the student dining rooms are made from recycled paper.

	The grease from the kitchens is gathered weekly and recycled.

	Dining Services started a pilot program for composting last year at Cutter/Ziskind and Chase houses. Compostible pre and post consumer food waste is collected twice weekly and distributed to local farms in Greenfield and Whately, MA. The program continues at these 2 locations with the hopes of expanding it to other dining locations in the future.

We Re-use

It doesn't make sense to throw something away if it can be re-used, even if it is recyclable. For example, why toss a plastic water bottle? It will just get re-processed into plastic again and used to make another water bottle, at the cost of the energy consumed by the recycling process. It would be more ecologically sound (and cheaper for you) to keep the bottle and refill it over and over again from another water source.

We re-use a wide variety of things in the dining halls and encourage students to do the same:

	Black River, our produce company, delivers produce in heavy-duty cardboard boxes that are returned to them for reuse.

	Regular china, flatware, and glasses are used in the dining rooms which can be washed and reused.

	Reusable cleaning cloths are used rather than disposable ones in the dining rooms and kitchens.

	Students are encouraged to use Tupperware and hot/cold plastic reusable cups if they wish to take food or beverages out of the dining rooms.

	For the past three years at the opening of the academic year Dining Services has purchased, and distributed to students at Central Check-In, insulated plastic mugs with lids for hot beverages or soups. This fall Dining Services distributed re-useable, 16oz polycarbonate water bottles for cold beverages and has discontinued carrying "throw away" bottle water at the "Grab & Go" dining l ocation. In conjunction, Dining Services has installed extra water spigots at the "Grab & Go" and are encouraging students to bring their reusable water bottles to this location, as well as their other dining locations.

For the past several years, Dining Services has purchased and given to all students insulated plastic mugs with lids for hot beverages or soups.

We Conserve

Recycling and re-using products can help undo some of the harmful processes used to make them, but an even better solution would be cutting back on wasteful use. In other words, the absolute best way to practice sustainability is to conserve natural resources.

	Dining Services has installed computers in all the kitchens to speed up communication and cut down on paper usage.

	Bulk dispensers are used to cut down on packaging materials in the student dining rooms for juices, sodas, milk, ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, and most cereals.

	Dining Services encourages their chefs to batch cook and to cut down on food waste. Extra food is used creatively on the salad bar or incorporated into new dishes.

	In the summer of 2002, Residence and Dining Services changed all the coin-operated washing machines on campus to front-loading Maytag Neptune washers. These washers use half the water and a quarter of the detergent top-loaders use, saving the college 1,164,000 gallons of water and 1,706 gallons of detergent each year.

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