Sustainability

Trayless Dining

Sycamore Dining Hall operates as a trayless dining facility. We appreciate your efforts in helping us minimize our environmental impact. By choosing to use a plate instead of a tray, you contribute to conserving one quart of water, reducing food waste by one ounce, and saving the energy and detergent required to clean trays. Thank you for your continued support in promoting sustainability.

Local Farms

We are committed to sourcing as many ingredients as possible from local farms. Our team of professionally trained chefs designs our menus to highlight the freshest, in-season fruits and vegetables, ensuring a seasonally inspired dining experience.

Reusable Cup Discount

Support the environment and save money! Bring your reusable cup when purchasing a beverage and enjoy a discount with every purchase.

Green Paper Goods

We have significantly reduced our use of paper products across all locations and, whenever possible, opt for compostable greenware to support sustainability efforts.

Xpress Napkin Holders

XPressnap dispensers are another solution to reducing energy and waste. They use 30% less paper than traditional napkin dispensing mechanisms. The great thing about these dispensers is that they help the environment while helping to keep costs down. The napkins are made of 100% recycled paper, and the dispenser will encourage customers to take (and waste) fewer napkins. Energy is saved because less power is used to recycle paper products than to create them from virgin material. According to Xpressnap, enough is saved using recycled napkins to power 600 American homes for an entire year! Over half a million gallons of oil were saved, '38 tanker trucks worth, 'and 41 tons of pollutants were kept out of the environment. Using recycled napkins diverted 4,131 cubic yards of paper from landfills. This is enough to cover a football field with a stack of paper two and a half feet deep.

APEX Dishwashing System

As part of its commitment to increase the sustainability of its operations, Dining Services uses Ecolab's Apex™ dishwashing system. Apex combines technology and products designed to save water and energy, minimize the impact of products on the environment, and have a built-in method of measuring results. Apex uses a unique combination of detergents, rinse additives, equipment, and consultative services to address the operational challenges in food-service operations. The Apex management approach uses a tablet PC and wireless technology to communicate with the system's controller to download, process, and analyze data to establish each food-service operation's "rack-to-guest ratio." By monitoring and improving this ratio, the system helps reduce the amount of water and energy used at each facility and improve total operational efficiency. All locations will benefit from using less water, energy, and labor, thus minimizing their operations' overall environmental impact. In addition, the Apex system further supports Dining Services' sustainability initiatives with non-caustic chemistry and 95% less packaging material than current methods.

Simple Zone

Sycamore Dining offers a Simple Zone Pantry designed for students with specific allergies. This dedicated space is gluten-free, peanut-free, and tree-nut-free, providing a safe environment for individuals with dietary restrictions. The Simple Zone empowers students to actively participate in the preparation of their allergen-safe meals.