Sustainable Dining

Sustainability Initiatives

Eco Cafe:

  • Faculty, Staff, and Pards can now order their smoothies in a reusable “for-here” cup at Eco Cade. Reusable cups must be returned to Eco Cafe when leaving the RISC building as this is a “for-here” option.
  • Faculty, Staff, and Pards can now use their own reusable mug/bowl when ordering soup or coffee in Eco Cafe. For coffee only at Eco Cafe and Skillman’s Cafe, there is a 20% discount if you use a reusable mug. For both options, you can get a punch for your Sustainable Punchcard!

Reusable in Catering:

  • On the EMS site, there is a reusable plating and utensils option for catering. When choosing the plating option, click “melamine” to utilize the reusable plating and utensil options. The options for melamine are as follows:
    • Catering (with food): Add melamine to your order and it will be included free of charge.
    • Catering across campus (without food): Add melamine to your order or reusable Ecoware!
    • Student Catering now available! Choose from melamine or eco-friendly Ecoware options to support sustainable practices with your order.

Faculty/Staff Catering Guide

Student Catering Guide

(*Please note: Reusables will be delivered with your catering order if placed through Lafayette Dining Services. If your group is not utilizing our food service, but would like to use melamine or Ecoware, you will need to arrange for pick-up and return of the items. Reusables must be picked up and returned to the Marquis loading dock. Melamine plates are provided on a first-come, first-served basis, which is approximately 1 catering event per day.)

Sustainable Punchcard Program:

The Sustainable Punchard Program rewards Pards who are participating in sustainable initiatives.  This program is run by the Office of Sustainability and pards can redeem prizes in their office. Ways to earn punches include using reusable cups, mugs, composting and more! Visit the Office of Sustainability for more information!

Local Ingredients and Composting:

Lafayette Dining supports Lafayette’s Sustainable Food Loop by purchasing a portion of our produce from LaFarm (among other local vendors) and use it in our recipes. Food scraps are collected into bins and returned to the farm for composting in order to promote a continuous cycle from farm to table and back into the soil. Want to make sure your catering order has LaFarm ingredients? Request it when ordering through EMS. Learn more about the Sustainable Food Loop at Lafayette.

Green to Go Reusable Container Program

Our reusable containers reduce waste and give you the freedom to take your dining hall meal to go! Each student is allotted one container as part of their meal plan and will be provided with the carabiner exchange clip during move-in. Here’s how it works:

  1. When you want a meal to go, give your carabiner clip to the dining hall cashier (either at Upper Farinon or Marquis Dining Hall) who will then provide you with a clean and sanitized reusable take-out container.
  2. Fill your container with what you love from the various dining hall stations and then enjoy your meal wherever and whenever you like!
  3. After you’ve enjoyed your meal, bring your empty container back to the dining hall cashier for your next clean box OR get an exchange carabiner clip so you can get a reusable take-out container later.

If you lose your container or exchange carabiner, replacements can be purchased for $5.

Sourcing and Sustainability Standards

Lafayette Dining is proud to have made a commitment to making our dining operations as “green” as possible. Some of our sustainable practices include:

Culinary Standards

  • All our chicken and fish in our dining halls are hand-bread by our chefs. Retail locations currently use pre-bread chicken.  
  • All entrée meats are roasted right in our kitchens.
  • Our pizza dough is freshly made from scratch.
  • Our soups and sauces are made from scratch, using real and fresh ingredients to make stock.
  • Vegetables for the salad bar and sides are fresh and hand cut in our kitchens.
  • We use real, fresh from a farm potato and never use instant potatoes.  Our default is to purchase our potatoes from Twin Maple Farms.

Animal Welfare 

  • We do not purchase sub-therapeutically treated chicken. 
  • All shell eggs are cage free from Kreider Farms and they are 3rd party verified by American Humane Certified.
  • Our liquid eggs are not currently cage free, but the transition to cage free is being explored for the 24 – 25 school year.
  • All pork is verified by Where Food Comes From.
  • We source our pork from Clemen’s Food Group and their sows are raised in higher-welfare group housing, without reliance of gestation crate confinement systems. 
  • We follow the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch standards to promote sustainable seafood. Through this program we will source Best Choice or Good Alternatives according to their seafood guidelines for Northeast United States.  We also rely on 3rd party certifying organizations like MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) for our wild caught and BAP (Best Aquaponic Practices) for our farmed raised seafood to help us make other sustainable seafood choices.
  • All beef is sourced and processed domestically, and our ground beef is sourced locally through Happy Valley Meat Co.  

Sourcing Standards

  • We use 100% halal chicken in the dining halls and the non-breaded chicken in retail is halal.  Breaded chicken products at retail locations are not halal.  York Street products containing chicken are not halal. 
  • When available we aim to source Do-Good Chicken for our catering menus and will specify when it’s being used and will specify it’s not halal.  
  • We currently purchase 18% of our food from our Know Your Source vendors and measure our achievements quarterly.
  • We do continuous planning with LaFarm to incorporate their produce into our kitchens.   
  • We use local GMO Free oils from Susquehanna Mills in our fryers.
  • We only use local rBST free fluid milk from Harrisburg dairies. 
  • We use Shade Grown and Fair-trade Certified coffee from either Starbucks or Sun Coffee Roasters for all coffee. 

Sustainability Standards

  • We offer our guests the option to use reusable takeout containers in our dining halls. 
  • Our kitchens divert pre-consumer food scraps to Lafayette composting program. 
  • We offer post-consumer food scrap collect in our dining halls. 
  • We seek to continually increase our use of non-disposable cups and containers.  Where reusables aren’t an option; a low intensity fiber container would be our preferred option. 
  • All fryer oil is picked up, recycled, and converted to biofuel to run farm equipment to grow our crops for oil.
  • We recycle bottles, cans, cardboard, and paper across campus. 

Inclusive Dining – We strive to be inclusive by having dining options for all guests.   

  • We partner with spiritual and religious life to accommodate dietary needs, making menus available online and work to create menus for specific religious holidays. 
  • Each meal period has “Inspired Eats” options that are free of the nine most common allergens.
  • We label and intentionally source products that limit allergen exposure.
  • We make our own grain and rice blends in house to reduce the potential for hidden allergens.
  • We only purchase plain breadcrumbs for breading proteins and bread cubes for stuffing and croutons. 
  • Vegan entrée selections are offered at all meals. 

Sustainable Produced Icon

Our Sustainable Produced Icon highlights produce and ingredients that demonstrate a commitment to sustainable practices and possess recognized sustainable credentials.