Environmental Stewardship

Dining Services is committed to practicing environmental stewardship. We continue to seek ways to increase our sustainability and practice environmentally sound practices. Below is a listing of our current efforts:

1. Energy Reduction/Avoidance
   1. We installed all new energy-star, front-load washers and dryers in the residence halls. The high efficiency washers require less water, hold larger loads and save energy in reduce water heating. They also extract more water from the clothes, shortening drying time and saving even more energy.
   2. We installed all new energy-star vending machines on campus.
   3. Harrison Dining Hall renovation - The energy efficiency upgrades that were a part of this renovation result in $ 78K in cost avoidance per year
   4. We voluntarily changed our PC monitors company-wide to the energy star flat panel monitors to reduce the effects on energy usage.
      
2. Waste Minimization
   1. Trays are no longer used at Brockway Dining Hall to reduce the amount of customer food waste, and provide water and energy savings from not having to wash approximately 500 trays per meal.
      
3. Farm Fresh
   We are proud to support the Local Farming Community and encourage our produce vendor, B. Giambrone & Co. Inc, to carry local products whenever possible. Each week Giambrone supplies a listing of local produce, the farm it's from, and the location of the farm. We in turn, communicate those local offerings to our customers
   
4. Local Purveyors
1. Byrne Dairy - All of the milk and ice cream consumed on campus comes from Byrne Dairy, a New York State company.
1. Petrillo's Bakery - A large amount of our bread products are supplied from this local Rochester bakery.
2. Java Junction Coffee Roasters & Bakery - We partner with Java Junction Coffee Roasters & Bakery, located on Main Street in Brockport. They sell regular and fair trade coffee. Their coffee can be found in two of our retail dining locations on campus - Jitterbugs Café and Aerie Café.
3. Jonathan's Pastry Shop & Café - Jonathan's, located in Brockport, supplies our catering department with upscale pastries.
4. Bruegger's Bakery - Dining Services purchases bagels for our retail locations from the Brockport Bruegger's Bakery.
5. Zweigle's Hots - Zweigle's Inc. is Rochester 's leading hot dog, sausage and deli manufacturer. It is also a family owned and operated business for five generations. We proudly serve Zweigle's hots in both dining hall locations.
   
5. Second Harvest
   Dining Services works with St. Joe's in Rochester to donate leftover food and products for use at their food shelter.
   
6. Recycling
1. Blue containers are available in all dining locations for recycling paper, glass, plastic and metal.
2. Dining Services sells used vegetable oil to Buffalo Biodiesel Inc. who converts that oil to biodiesel. Harrison Dining Hall, Brockway Dining Hall and Union Square Food Court are equipped with the latest style of grease trap, where all the waste from the food preparation and ware washing areas run through this trap to reduce the impact on the public sewer system.
3. Brockway Dining hall supplies the campus science department with used fryer oil in an effort to find a process to create biodiesel fuel for future use.
4. Dining Services recycles returnable aluminum cans, corrugated cardboard, white office paper, metal cans, glass, light bulbs, rechargeable batteries, aerosol cans and #1 and #2 plastics in all dining locations. We also recycle computers. All through the Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) department.
5. In our dining halls, we serve individual portions and encourage students to take only what they know they can eat to help minimize food waste. We're conducting a series of "Waste Weighs" to spread the word about food waste and raise awareness.
6. Refrigerants reclaimed & recycled - We recycle all refrigerants in all our dining refrigeration equipment.
   
7. Eco-friendly products
   1. Dining Services has rolled out a Refillable Mug Program. This green initiative not only saves cups -- it saves you money, too! You pay the 12 oz. price for 16 oz. each time you use the mug. Click here for program guidelines.
   2. Since 2005, Dining Services has switched many of our retail food containers made from plastic to containers made from 100% annually renewable resources such as corn. These products now make up approximately 4.4% of our total disposable purchases. NatureWorks (PDF) Greenware
   3. Dining Services has replaced Styrofoam soup bowls in retail locations with ones made of paper.
      
8. Chemicals
   1. Chemical dispensers for dish machines and pot and pan washing were installed at Harrison Dining Hall during the recent renovation for the use of environmentally safe cleaning products. These products are provided by EcoLab, a worldwide leader in providing environmentally safe products while reducing waste, energy and practicing sustainable use of renewable resources.
   2. We have recently started to use Ecolab's new warewashing system called Apex. Apex not only provides us with the ability to consume less phosphorus and plastic, but it also provides us the ability to better manage our consumption of water and electricity. In combination, the benefits of Apex will help us truly become more sustainable by lowering our total impact on the environment.
   3. Disposal of Chemicals - All old or unused chemicals are processed through the campus Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) department.
      
9. Campus Partnership
   Brockport Auxiliary Service Corporation is a member of The College at Brockport Managing Environmental Safety and Health (MESH) committee, as well as the Sustainability Task Force sub-committee. As a member of these committees we work with other campus departments to seek ways to increase our sustainability and practice environmentally sound practices.
   1. We actively support the College's participation in Recyclemania. In 2009, as part of our efforts, we caught customers "green handed".