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Sustainable Dining Monthly Newsletter
Check out the latest edition of our monthly Sustainable Newsletter here.

RecycleMania! 2012 Results are in!
RecycleMania! has come to an end and the results are in. This year WWU placed 86 out of about 300 schools in the Grand Champion Division and 35 of 130 schools in the Food Service Organics Division. Thank you to the entire campus community for your participation - we couldn't have done it without you! We are looking forward to next year and coming up with some new ideas to catapult us to the top of the rankings to show everyone what Westrern's got!

Official results can be viewed at http://recyclemaniacs.org/.


A Look Back at University Dining Services’ Earth Week 2012 Events

Last week was the annual Earth Week celebration across Western’s campus and University Dining Services hosted a number of events in hopes of inspiring people to make every day Earth Day. The events kicked off with Meatless Monday in all three dining commons. Though the menu wasn’t strictly vegetarian, there were special vegan and vegetarian options during lunch and dinner that were meant to show people how to enjoy healthy food while reducing their environmental impact.

Our new reusable mugs went on sale on Monday with a fresh design in order to promote less waste when people drink their coffee and tea. The reusable mugs help divert unsustainable coffee cups away from the landfill as well as reinstate the importance of recycling.

Wednesday featured our Sustainable Dinner, a success from the moment the meal began. The menu was filled with tasty sides and entrees that were prepared with locally grown and harvested foods. The lemon Steelhead Salmon (from the Columbia River) with Hollandaise Sauce was the star of the show but the other meals included Draper Valley Chicken and Ostrom’s Mushroom (Olympia, WA) Stroganoff, Tillamook Macaroni and Cheese, and Pesto Ostrom Mushroom and Hempler’s Bacon (Blaine, WA) Pizza. The sides included a Root Vegetable Medley, Organic Braising Greens, Roasted Yukon Gold Potatoes, Mushroom Arugula Salad, Quinoa Vegetable Salad, French Onion Soup and Minestrone all featuring locally grown greens and veggies. Finally, the dinner was brought to a sweet conclusion with a double blueberry bagel from Bellingham’s own ‘The Bagelry’ topped with  a Blueberry Cream Cheese with Local Blueberries (Bow, WA) and an Apple Cake with Locally Grown Washington Apples. The sustainable dinner was an instant favorite and it reminded people how much fantastic food is grown in the Pacific Northwest.

Thursday was our “Weigh the Waste” day where each of the dining commons measured the total weights of food waste from every meal of the day. Viking Commons collected 850 lbs., Ridgeway Commons collected 497 lbs., and Fairhaven Commons collected 620 lbs. Students were able to see how much food gets diverted away from the landfill and becomes compost through Bellingham’s “FoodPlus!” service. The takeaway message from this event was to “take what you want, but eat what you take.”

All week long, we partnered with Wilson Library in hosting an art exhibit called “Earth Day: Your Definition Here.” The exhibit gave students a chance to share their interpretation of the holiday by drawing it on a giant paper canvas that covered walls of one of the library’s hallways. Drawing supplies were provided and students were able to put their art on display for everyone to see.

By the week’s end, University Dining Services successfully completed a variety of events that were meant to instill the importance of environmental stewardship and to show people what we are doing to promote an ecologically responsible lifestyle.

View pictures of our various events on our Facebook page!

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