Cal Dining Sustainability Team Final Report by The Green Initiative Fund

TGIF Final Report Project Leaders:

Monica Harnoto Intern Coordinator

Nicole Won Intern

Nicholas Lam Intern

Josh Hubert Intern

Sarah Atkinson Intern

Nicole Wong Intern

Student intern, Jenna Kingkade, created this project in 2012

Project Title: Cal Dining Sustainability Team Fiscal Sponsor and any Partnering Organization: Cal Dining

Project Summary: Goals of the project The Cal Dining Sustainability Team was created to promote and innovate sustainable projects within all Cal Dining residential dining halls and retail stores. In the past, there was only one sustainability intern. However, Jenna Kingkade, the sustainability intern at the time, felt it was necessary to have more interns in order to increase the scope of Cal Dining’s sustainability projects, and thus a group was formed. In addition to ensuring that existing sustainability projects are still running effectively, the Cal Dining Sustainability Team’s mission is to constantly think of new ways to increase sustainability in Cal Dining’s operations and purchasing policy. The team also aims to increase awareness of environmental issues and food sustainability among the campus community.

Accomplishments and successes From the start, the team worked very well and efficiently in order to fulfill our project mission. Work was divided evenly among the team members in an effort to cover the broad spectrum of projects we envisioned. Two members worked on green business certification and two members worked on marketing and outreach. In addition, we were encouraged to take on personal projects in order to continue advancing Cal Dining’s sustainability. Through this, Monica Harnoto was able to create Chews to Reuse, the reusable to-‐go container initiative. Sarah Atkinson and Nicole Wong are currently working on a Sustainable Map Project, Josh Hubert is currently working on increasing student feedback for meals, and Nicole Won and Nick Lam have focused on Green Business Certification. A great success of this team has been its ability to efficiently collaborate on big projects such as Food Day while maintaining independent or partner projects. The team was able to create this productive environment through regular group meetings and continual support of one another. We also were successful in putting on events that promoted sustainability to students in the dining commons such as our Water Day and Earth Day initiatives. The Cal Dining Sustainability Team also worked closely with other student groups and on-‐campus organizations such as UHS, Bare Abundance and CRRS. By asking other club members and organizations to participate in our events, we were able to increase the outreach and impact of our initiatives. The Cal Dining Sustainability Team continues to check up on Cal Dining’s green operations. With the help of the interns, Crossroads and Cafe 3 were re-‐certified under by the Alameda Green Business Certification Board. In addition, Cal Catering received certification and Pat Brown’s is in the process of becoming certified. Finally, the team recently did a packaging audit of all Cal Dining’s retail stores, to reduce the amount of post-‐consumer waste our products produce.

Challenges and obstacles We faced some challenges when we realized that some projects we wanted to implement were not possible due to the policies of Cal Dining, whether they may be obligations brought on contractually or due to logistical reasons. For example, a goal of ours has been to increase sustainable and healthy food options in Cal Dining, but this is difficult because of the contracts Cal Dining has with current vendors. In addition, we realized that because Cal Dining is serving the entire Berkeley campus, it cannot completely eliminate dishes or ingredients. For example, when many environmental groups suggested we create a Meatless Monday, we realized that we couldn’t pursue such initiatives due to a predicted decrease in customer satisfaction. Our solution was to suggest the idea of not eating meat and educate people on healthier alternatives during events such as Water Day 2012 and Food Day 2012. Also, we realized that something as simple as putting signage in the dining halls is actually a bit complicated because every dining hall is under different management and space is often limited. Educational signage was also a problem because of Cal Dining’s lack of display holders near food items. In order to figure out what would be the best way to implement signage we set up many meetings with Patrice Thomas, the marketing director, asking her advice on how to make the system uniform. Overall, we learned to keep in mind that realistically some projects would not be possible because of the parameters faced with working within an established business. Still, it was important for us to push for improvement in whatever areas we could, evaluating current operations and innovating new projects, making it clear that we weren’t satisfied with the status quo. We learned how to work effectively with professionals that run the business such as general managers, chefs, as well as top directors of Cal Dining. Because this team is continuing to grow and change, we appreciate the mistakes we made because without those mistakes, we would not have learned as much as we have. I believe that it is important for our team to continue to communicate better not just among ourselves, but also within the entire Cal Dining organization.

Feedback to TGIF TGIF was a great resource throughout this entire process. Katherine was really helpful when we applied for other grants and supportive of our events such as Food Day. We also really enjoyed the opportunity to be featured in the TGIF newsletters. Overall it was a great experience, and there is nothing that could have been further improved.

Actual Timeline of the project from start to completion

See Attached Timeline

Sustainability Impact: What quantitative and/or qualitative sustainability impacts/metrics did your project have? Chews to Reuse has had a significant sustainability impact. Because Chews to Reuse to-‐go containers have a lifetime of 360 uses, this program eliminates the water, energy and carbon footprint inherent in the production process of 360 compostable containers. In addition, the Chews to Reuse program also reduces Cal Dining’s total waste output. Our quantitative metrics are as follows: 77,947 kWh and 2,660 therms of energy are saved per year by opting for the Chews to Reuse containers. In terms of student participation, 3,419 students used Chews to Reuse containers during the program’s first month of installment (following the pilot) and since then participation is roughly up to 4,249 students with a likely increase in participation in the future. Based on our estimates, Food Day impacted 1,000 people while generating zero waste. As for Water Day, we estimate that at least 100 students heightened their water awareness due to our chalkboard tabling events in all four dining halls.

Do you expect on-going benefits (annual cost savings)? Please include estimates of these impacts. Although there may not be any quantifiable cost savings for Cal Dining that arise from Food Day or Water Day, these events could have potentially many real benefits for our environment. During Water Day this past April, countless students participated in our chalkboard poster awareness activities by brainstorming, discussing and writing down ways they could be more responsible and conscious of their water usage. By offering students the chance to critically reflect on their water usage, new more eco-‐friendly habits may have sprung up as a result. As for Food Day last fall, this event allowed students to enjoy food and engage with the many issues surrounding food (from sustainability to nutrition to even hunger). We invited vendors like Annie’s Homegrown that incorporate sustainability into their packaging, community involvement and ingredients. Local vendors like Back to the Roots and Hodo Soy also demonstrated how creativity and sustainability in production can be used as a platform to educate consumers. By inviting groups and companies that encourage sustainable food systems or practices, this allowed participants to understand the strong connection between their food and the environment. Chews to Reuse will continue to save Cal Dining the cost of continually buying new compostable to go containers while making its student users conscious of the waste

that comes from one-‐time use containers. Additionally, Chews to Reuse offers considerable cost savings: we project that the program will save Cal Dining a minimum of $46,369.03 annually especially after the considerable rise in student participation rates since the program’s pilot this past fall. Students will also save a combined $65,658.00 a year just by switching to reusable to go containers.

Conclusions and next steps: The hope is that the Cal Dining Student Sustainability Team will continue indefinitely, funded entirely by Cal Dining. Our team has already begun a few projects for the next school year. These projects include refining Lean Path (Cal Dining’s food waste measuring system), creating a sustainability map in partnership with CRRS, launching a sampling program in the dining halls, and organizing our second annual Food Day. Lean Path ValuWaste is a digital weighing system that allows each dining hall to measure the amount of pre-‐consumer waste they produce. Lean Path collects data allowing the managers to see where they can reduce waste. Our team wants to further this program by continuing to promote it as an integral part of every Cal Dining kitchen, attending meetings to suggest areas of improvement based on data from Lean Path. Two of our team members are currently collaborating with CRRS to create a sustainability map of the UC Berkeley campus. The goal is to map all waste bins-‐ trash, cans/bottles, mixed paper, compost-‐ on campus and eventually make this map available to students so they can conveniently find the closest bin that suits their purposes, hopefully encouraging more efficient waste stream separation so less ends up in the landfill. Our most recent project is the sampling program, which we hope to launch at the start of next semester. The purpose of this project is to allow students to try dishes before receiving a full plate, to decrease the amount of post-‐consumer food waste. The idea is that if people know what they like they will be more likely to eat what is given to them. Last but not least, our 2nd annual Food Day is next October. We have already begun contacting vendors in order to make this Food Day larger and more advertised than before. We want multiple cooking demonstrations, many vendors and maybe even a guest speaker. As you can see, we have many plans for the future and we want to thank you so much for supporting the development and growth of Cal Dining sustainability.

Timeline From Start to Completion: Name Sustainability Team Sustainability Team Nicole Won and Josh Hubert

Nicholas Lam Monica Harnoto Monica Harnoto Monica Harnoto Nicole Won and Josh Hubert Nicole Won Sustainability Team Monica Harnoto Nicholas Lam Nicholas Lam Nicole Won and Josh Hubert Nicole Won Monica Harnoto Monica Harnoto

Date

Summary of Work Accomplished

3/1/12 Orientation meeting at Crossroads. 3/6/12-‐ Grant application to TGIF and CASC and 3/10 Awards applications 3/8/12 Started Water Day 2012 Planning Contacted I Heart Tap Water and Take Back The Tap for possible collaboration for the Water Day event. Researched information and brainstormed ideas for a possible "Tap 3/8/12 Water" booth Meeting with Mike and Professors for Chew 3/9/12 to Reuse initial research 3/16/12 Edited Water Day flyer 3/16/12 Worked on Metrics section of TGIF grant 3/9/12-‐ 3/21/12 Water Day Planning and Marketing 3/21/12 Water Questions and Info Sheet 3/22/12 Water Day Tabling Working on TGIF Grant/Working on 3/28/12 StopWaste.org Grant Green Business Certification emails sent to 4/1/12 unit managers and GBC consultants Emailed Patrice regarding Cal Day and 4/4/12 researched project proposal templates 4/5/12 4/5/12 4/5/12 4/5/12

Attended Foothill Dining Commons Meeting and communicated with staff Email Correspondence with Steam member, Monica and Trashion show RA's. Earth Week logistical planning Email correspondence with Steam, CNR, BSFC Wrote proposal for "Chews to Reuse" for Chuck and Shawn

Nicholas Lam

4/9/12

Sustainability Team Sustainability Team

4/9/12-‐ 4/17/12

Nicholas Lam

4/23/12

Nicholas Lam

4/27/12

Nicholas Lam

5/2/12

4/21/12

Monica Harnoto Josh Hubert and Nicholas Lam

5/3/12-‐ 5/7/12

Nicholas Lam

5/15/12

Monica Harnoto

5/2/12

5/23/12-‐ 5/29/12

Nicholas Lam

6/6/12

Josh Hubert Nicholas Lam and Josh Hubert Nicholas Lam

6/7/12

Scheduled meetings with GMs of Clark Kerr and Crossroads for GBC discussion. Finished project proposal template. Earth week planning with team, Ida, and chefs of dining commons in order to install food mileage signage Earth Day signage installed in CKC and Foothill Emails sent to Leila, Chris, Sunil, and CRRS for Green Certification. Compiled GBC information. Met with Chris and Natalie to work on Cal Catering Green Department Certification Compiled Green Business Certification apps for Crossroad and Clark Kerr, Green Department Certification for Cal Catering. Emails sent to Chris and Leila. Met with Mike for performance evaluation, sent email to Steam about changing the unsustainable packaging at the Coffee Spot, worked on the CACS grant form Going over Green Business app, meeting with Nick, and sending emails to Pat Brown's people Corresponded with Lisa, Office of Sustainability revised submitted application of Cal Catering. Went to Clark Kerr to verify lighting fixtures and LED exit signs. Researched to-‐go container programs at other schools, emailed schools for advice on to-‐go container system practices, composing a proposal for to-‐go container system for Foothill Completed and submitted Green Business Certification apps for Clark Kerr and Crossroads Communicated with Retail Manager Albert, and going over partially completed green business application for pat browns

Brainstormed student feedback project 6/8/12 ideas and communicated with James 6/19/12-‐ Compiled CAHESC Report

and Josh Hubert Nicholas Lam Nicholas Lam Nicole and Monica Nicole Won Monica Harnoto Nicole Won

Nicole Won Monica Harnoto Nicole Won Monica Harnoto and Nicholas Lam Monica Harnoto Nicholas Lam Monica Harnoto Monica Harnoto and Nicholas Lam Sustainability Team Nicole Won Nicholas Lam

6/22/12 Sustainability audits of Cal Catering and 6/26/12-‐ Crossroads with Alameda Green Business 6/20/12 and EBMUD Crossroads Audit with Leila of Alameda County, scheduled EBMUD inspection and 6/27/12 emails to Cal Catering Brainstorming for Calapalooza/Opening 7/20/12 Week Email correspondence and research for 7/18/12 water meter Met with Brian and Mike to finalize things 7/26/12 for reusable to go container program Meeting with Ida about food signage, emails to marketing department about 8/1/12 Caltopia/Calapolooza Meeting with Mike about the green resume. Drafts of the timeline and created a info sheet about food/green practices for 8/7/12 message boards at crossroads Worked on finalized reusable to-‐go 8/7/12 container publicity information 8/16/12 Finalize Timeline and sent to Christine CKC and Crossroads Green Business 8/16/12 Certification Helping Christine with the timeline, driving 8/16/12 publicity items to various DC's 8/16/12 Help Tiffany sorting Cal Dining shirts 8/19/12 Tabling for Caltopia 8/19/12-‐ 3/22/12 Tabling for Chews to Reuse at Foothill Meeting about Leadership symposium and 8/24/12 Food Day Green business correspondence and 8/28/12 signage correspondence Cal Catering Certification achieved. Interview/follow-‐up with Nik Craine, Bright 8/28/12 Green Newsletter, for Cal Catering

Nicole Won Sustainability Team Monica Harnoto Nicole Won Sustainability Team Sustainability Team Nicholas Lam Monica Harnoto Nicholas Lam Nicholas Lam and Monica Harnoto Sustainability Team Monica Harnoto Sustainability Team Monica Harnoto Nicole Wong Sustainability Team Sustainability Team Sustainability Team Monica H., Josh H., and Sarah A. Nicole Wong, Josh Hubert., Sarah A. and

Initial count of lights/toilets at Pat Brown's 8/30/12 and call with Leila about application 8/31/12 See meeting minutes. Checked in with Brian about Chews to 9/6/12 Reuse 9/12/12 Food Day Timeline Food Day Planning—figuring out logistics, 9/12/12-‐ gathering vendors and organizations, and 10/23/12 planning marketing 10/24/12 Food Day!! 11/20/12 Clark Kerr Sustainability Program 11/20/12 Clark Kerr Sustainability Program 11/24/12 Correspondence with internship applicants. 11/27/12-‐ 11/30/12 12/3/12-‐ 12/7/12 1/22/13 and 1/224/13

Worked on TGIF report and TGIF Update meeting Candidate interviews Meeting with CRRS and BareAbundance to collaborate on Crossroads demonstration

1/25/13 Intern Training Chews to Reuse rolls out in all dining 1/28/13 commons Brainstorming/sketching out Ideas for 1/30/13 semester projects First team meeting, talked about TGIF grant 2/1/13 and Zero Waste initiative 2/1/13 TGIF grant abstract and planning Team meeting, delegating projects, brainstorming Water Day ideas (board 2/4/13 game) 2/4/13 Weighing compost bins 2/5/13 Food waste awareness tabling and research

Monica H. Nicole Wong Sustainability Team Sarah Atkinson Monica Harnoto Nicole Won Nicole wong Sarah Atkinson and Nicole Won Monica Harnoto Monica Harnoto Sustainability Team Nicole Wong Sarah Atkinson Sustainability Team Sarah Atkinson and Nicole Wong Sarah Atkinson Nicole Wong Nicole Won Nicole Won and Monica Harnoto Sarah Atkinson and Nicole Wong

Emailing Ida and researching about low 2/6/13 water impact menu Team meeting, Water day, zero waste 2/11/13 review, 1+2=0 2/11/13 Water Day research Meeting with Mike to ask questions, 2/11/13 organizing to-‐do list for interns 2/14/13 Installing aerators in Pat Browns Met with Ida to discuss water day menu 2/15/13 and 1+2 2/18/13 TGIF Grant editing Meet with RSP about TGIF grant, email Bare 2/20/13 Abundance, email RSF about shoe recycling 2/21/13 Chews to reuse photo shoot 2/25/13 Team Meeting Working on Cal Dining Award (Efficiency) and Emailing CKC/GBC Managers about 3/1/13 sustainability resume Emailing Foothill and Qualcomm managers 3/3/13 for a tour, working on Cal Dining Award Water Day, CHESC, Zero Waste 3/4/13 Convergence, Sustainability Resume Meeting with Shannon Davis about 3/4/13 Compost/Recycle Google Map 3/6/13 CHESC Cal Dining Award Sustainability map, emailing Patrice, Robert 3/6/13 Stayte, etc Green Business Audit with Lin for Pat 3/6/13 Brown's 3/6/13 CHESC Application Meeting with Evelyn Hammid on crossroads 3/8/13 compost contamination problems

Sarah Atkinson and Josh Hubert Sustainability Team Sarah Atkinson and Nicole Wong Sarah Atkinson and Nicole Wong Monica Harnoto Josh Hubert, Monica, Nicole Wong Sustainability Team Nicole Won and Monica Sustainability Team Josh Hubert Nicole Wong Nicole Wong, Sarah Atkinson, Monica Harnoto Sarah Atkinson and Nicole Wong Nicole Won Sustainability Team Nicole Won, Josh Hubert, Monica Harnoto, Sarah Atkinson

3/8/13 Sustainability Resume Update Meetings weekly meeting and board spraying for 3/11/13 Water Day Crossroads Contamination meeting with 3/10/13 Evelyn 3/11/13 Weekly meeting with CRRS Emailing about Water Day and checking up 3/13/13 on supplies Meeting w/ Patrice about signage and 3/14/13 testing Water Day posters 3/17/13-‐ 3/19/13 Water Day tabling 3/28/13-‐ 3/29/13 TGIF Posters Meeting reviewed Water Day and TGIF 4/1/13 Grant, Crossroads contamination 4/1/13 Emailing about surveying 4/8/13 Sampling program logistics

4/8/13 Food Day Meeting 4/8/13 CRRS Weekly meeting for Sust. Map Sampling logistics and timeline revision/ 4/12/13 Call to Joesph Lerma for Pat Brown's 4/15/13 Weekly Meeting

4/15/13-‐ Meeting with Lucky-‐Sustainable Packaging 4/18/13 and sustainable packaging audits

Nicole Won and Nicole Wong Sustainability Team Sarah Atkinson Josh Hubert Sustainability Team Nicole Won Nicole Won

Nicole Won

Meeting with Cafe 3 about LeanPath and 4/22/13 Sampling 4/22/13 Weekly meeting 4/25/13 Presentation for XR Contamination Food survey meeting with Ida, and 4/30/13 compiling notes 5/6/13 Weekly meeting Pat Brown's final audit for Green Biz, and 5/17/13 emails to Albert 5/24/13 TGIF Final Report Prep for reusable mug meeting with 5/27/13 Professor Rosenbaum, see meeting notes

Official Budget Summary: Monica H.

Hr.

Josh H.

Dollars Hr.

Nicole Won

Dollars Hr.

May June July Aug. 8.75 10.75 6 48.75 548.4 98.44 120.94 67.5 4 3 21.5 11.25 4 126.5 33.75 241.88 6 45 5

Nick L.

Dollars Hr.

Nicole Wong

Dollars

Hr.

Sarah A.

Dollars Hr.

Jenna K.

Dollars Hr.

Total

Dollars

34.75 434.3 8

12.25 24.7 137.8 28.13 112.5 1 278.44 11.25 11.25 22. 126.5 126.5 6 6 253.12 34.7

56.25 7.5 21 236.2 84.38 5

Sept

Oct Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. 0 67.25 0 14.75 5 13 17.75 184.3 63.7 165.7 226.3 0 831.5 0 8 5 5 1 2.5 9.25 106.3 28.75 8 7 11.5 42.25 8 20.75 132.2 488.7 240.8 78.75 5 6 100 2 16.5 25.5 13 26.75 11.75 185.6 286.8 334.3 146.8 3 8 149.5 8 8 2.5

April

Hrs Dollars 192

11.25 129.3 8 10

2307.01 62.7 711.7 104.

117.5 1214.33 122

1423.9

563

434.38 6622.88

The G een Initiative Fund University of California, Berkeley