UNT Dining Services is one of the leading champions of sustainability on campus. UNT Dining has made major strides in reducing its environmental impact, maximizing efficiency in its operations, and changing behavior.

These improvements embody the holistic approach of sustainability. This approach looks to minimize UNT’s economic, environmental, and social impacts on the local and global scale while maximizing returns.

Some of these improvements include:

Buying local

Purchasing from local sources is our preferred method for everything we use in our dining halls. By purchasing local we save money and reduce our carbon footprint. When we can’t find something from a local vendor we look for items made in Texas or the south west region.

Reducing Emissions

Dining Services developed a partnership with Ben E. Keith that reduces deliveries to campus from 18 times a week to only 3, cutting down on pollution and saving fuel to reduce our carbon footprint.

Reducing Waste

Dining Services makes reusable cutlery and glassware available in all resident dining halls in an effort to reduce disposable utensils.

Oil Recycling into Biodiesel Fuel

Dining Services partnered with a local biodiesel collection service that picks up used cooking oil which is converted into bio-diesel fuel, a renewable resource, which is in turn used to power service vehicles on campus.

Supporting a Plant-Based Diet

Dining Services is doing its part for sustainability by encouraging more conscientious eating habits by offering vegan and vegetarian menus at Maple Hall’s “Mean Greens.” Reducing consumption of animal products is not only beneficial for your health but also for the environment. The livestock industry alone produces 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions—a higher share than global transport.[i] As the global population rises, diets rich in animal products are increasingly unsustainable, as they contribute to world hunger, soil degradation, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and increased water usage.[ii]

Recycle Mug Refill Program

This initiative offers customers a discount when they use their own mug at any of our retail locations on campus. By using fewer paper cups we can lower costs to the customer and decrease waste going to our landfills.

Fair Trade Certified and Organic Coffee 

We offer gourmet fair trade and certified organic coffees in a wide range of origins and roast levels at our Green Mountain coffee locations (Union and Discovery Park). Green Mountain is also available at the Wooten Hall 'Go Café' as well as our Dining Halls. Their organic beans and processes meet the strict certification standards of both the USDA and OCIA. Their Fair Trade coffees are certified by TransFair, an organization dedicated to offering better trading conditions for producers and workers in developing countries.

 “Green” Chemical Line

Dining Services uses a “green” chemical program that is safe, sustainable and earth friendly. The chemicals we use are concentrated solid formulations that utilize innovative packaging and dispensing methods which use less water and energy, reduces harsh chemicals and waste that is released into the environment, and reduces transportation costs associated with bulky chemicals.

Trayless Dining Halls and Retail Locations

Dining Services has eliminated the use of trays in 3 of our dining halls and all of our retail locations. By removing trays, we decrease food waste, conserve water and energy and reduce the use of cleaning chemicals. Removing trays reduces food waste by 25-30% per person and conserves almost 1900 liters of water annually (Business and Cultural Acceptance Case for Trayless Dining, 2008).

Water Conservation

To preserve water usage all dishwashing machine outlets have a special nozzle that regulates water usage with monthly monitoring of our dishwashing cycles to maximize the efficiency of our dishwashing activity and decrease water usage. Additionally, the ice machines used in the Dining Halls are air-cooled instead of water-cooled. Most water-cooled ice machines use a once-through cooling system, where the water used to cool the machine is subsequently dumped down the drain. The switch to air-cooled machines saves about 12 million gallons of water every year.

Compostable Packaging and Cutlery

In 2009 UNT dining services partnered with Innoware packaging and replaced the "to-go" cutlery and packaging with a compostable substitute. The Eco- Expressions container meets the ASTM standards for compost ability as certified by the Biodegradable Products Institute. That means it biodegrades in a commercial compost facility completely within 60-180 days, without releasing any toxic residues. The containers are made from an annual renewable resource that is not tied to corn for main feedstock, it reduces environmental impact and the production process, uses fewer fossil fuels and emits less carbon dioxide.

Recycling

UNT dining services recycles all cardboard and waste paper in all retail and resident dining locations. In addition we have recycle bins located near all of our dining facilities that encourage guests to recycle glass, plastic, and aluminum containers.

Recycled Napkins

All of our retail and resident Dining Halls use recycled paper napkins made from chemical free post-consumer recycled paper.

[i] Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nations, 2006.

[ii] Felicity Carus, “UN urges global move to meat- and dairy-free diet,” The Guardian, 2 June 2010, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/02/un-report-meat-free-diet.