Spotlight On: Allison Hart and Campus Dining

You may not realize it when you pick up a sandwich at a grab-and-go, but, campus dining is working hard to make what you eat as low impact as possible.  “As a department we’re getting more and more excited about sustainability,” says Allison Hart.  Hart is a material handler at Pizanos , but she is also the go-to person for campus dining’s sustainability projects and initiatives.

Hart says that the department has done a good job of “picking the lowest hanging fruit.”  They have tackled areas where obvious way to conserve resources were visible.  Last year, after a pilot study by Lisa Barlow’s Baker class, all the plastic bags were removed from campus grab-and-gos. 60,000 bags were saved, and Hart says it was a huge success in changing people’s habits.  

Dining services has also worked to try to conserve water and energy campus wide, and to recycle and compost as much of their pre and post consumption waste as possible.  Events like scrape your plate day have been instrumental in showing students what they are wasting and what they can do.

Now, Hart says, they are “at the juncture of figuring out what the next steps are.”  Finding the best practices for food purchasing, including local and organic food is a goal, as is starting a sustainable dining club and getting students involved in what they eat.  Hart is trying to get staff and employees invested in sustainability as well.  She has organized staff trainings and says that they have been successful.  Due to a suggestion from one of the chefs, all of the dining centers on campus are trying to get certified by the Green Restaurant Association.

Hart, who does much of the sustainability leg-work for campus dining says that the most exciting part is working collaboratively with other departments, and seeing how quickly and thoroughly the campus has embraced the move towards sustainability.  “It’s been really fun to see people get on board,” she says.