Reducing food waste on campus has been a top priority for Dining Services, in partnership with the UGA Office of Sustainability and UGA Facilities Management Division, over the past few years. Dining Services reduced its water usage in 2008 by 2.05 million gallons of water through conservation efforts. Since then, we have maintained this sustainable practice. Dining Services also composts food waste from its dining commons, retail, and catering operations and has substantial recycling efforts. 

In all of our facilities we 

  • Purchase products with minimum packing (ex. pouched vs. canned products)
  • Purchase energy-efficient replacement equipment and install timers on lighting
  • Purchase office paper with a minimum of 30% recycled content
  • Consolidate the majority of our deliveries to a central food storage facility and purchase regional produce and food products when available to decrease emissions caused by shipping
  • Use of electric hand dryers in lieu of paper towels in public restrooms
  • Have eliminated plastic to-go bags 
  • Have promoted refilling water bottles by installing “Hydration Stations” at our water fountains

Residential

Our dining commons locations

  • Use trash pulper systems to drastically reduce the volume of paper and food waste sent to local landfills, while dramatically reducing water usage in trash disposal systems
  • Place napkins on tables instead of at silverware stations, which has reduced napkin consumption by an estimated 50%
  • We use permanent dishes, glassware, and flatware

Retail

All of our retail locations use eco-friendly disposable service ware.

Tate Student Center Sustainability Initiatives

Dining Services’ locations in Tate Student Center

  • Use compostable straws and are 100% plastic-straw free (effective Fall 2019)
  • Have replaced Styrofoam packaging with paper and compostable fiber containers (effective 2018)
  • Have eliminated plastic carryout bags (effective 2018) 
  • Recycle all used pizza boxes returned to Bulldog Café staff and encourage dine-in customers to choose a tray instead
  • Compost back-of-house food waste in partnership with the Office of Sustainability