Sustainability

Since February 2014, UAlbany Dining has worked hard to launch and grow a comprehensive composting program. Currently, all resident quad dining rooms and Campus Center dining locations participate in composting leftover food scraps (including meat and dairy), paper products, biodegradable plastic bags and cardboard.

Pounds of Recycled Composting

2024 - 2025 School Year (through February 2025)

Total pounds of recycled compost since program inception (2014): 5,231,736

We work hard to get as many local ingredients as possible. Our professionally-trained chefs write our menus to take advantage of the fresh fruits and vegetables that are naturally in season. We partner with many local distributors to bring you local products as well. Mento Produce, Decresente Distributing, Rockland Bakery, Ronnybrook Farm, Empire Merchants, are just a few of them that support us.

Bottles, cans, glass, cardboard, coffee grounds and fryer oil.

Fair Trade is a global movement made up of a diverse network of producers, companies, consumers, advocates, and organizations putting people and planet first. It means the price we pay for products gives enough to producers for them to afford life's essentials - like food, education and healthcare. Fair trade certified products work to support the sustainability of farmland in various regions across the globe. At 518 Market in Campus Center we are proud to offer fair trade certified products including: Green Mountain coffee, barkTHINS chocolate, LILY'S chocolate, and Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

100% cage-free shell eggs are served everywhere on campus.

To help reduce waste we are trayless at all of our all-you-care-to-eat dining locations.

Individual packets of condiments are useful in some instances, but they result in extra waste. If you are dining on site, or you can add the sauce to your item before you leave, please use the bulk dispensers to reduce our waste.

XPressnap dispensers are another solution to reducing energy and waste. They use 30% less paper than traditional napkin dispensing mechanisms. The great thing about these dispensers is that they help the environment while helping to keep costs down. The napkins are made of 100% recycled paper and the dispenser will encourage customers to take (and waste) less napkins. Energy is saved because less power is used to recycle paper products than to create them from virgin material. According to Xpressnap, enough is saved through using recycled napkins to power 600 American homes for an entire year! More than half a million gallons of oil were saved ‘ 38 tanker trucks worth ‘ and 41 tons of pollutants were kept out of the environment. Using recycled napkins diverted 4,131 cubic yards of paper from landfills. This is enough to cover a football field with a stack of paper two and a half feet deep.