FOOD

Green initiatives have been integrated into day-to-day dining service operations throughout Binghamton University.

• Ever wonder what happens to the mounds of food waste in campus kitchens? Here at Binghamton University, kitchen prep trimmings, spoiled fruit and vegetables, stale bakery items and leftover plate scrapings are composted. Each year approximately 2,500 pounds of compostable waste is collected from campus dining halls, the University’s Food Co-op and the main campus kitchen.

• The University has reduced the amount of disposable items used in dining halls across campus and either recycles or composts more than 90 percent of our current service ware.

• Our student-driven Compost Organic Garden Demonstration Project promotes composting and organic gardening through active demonstrations as well as serves as a field lab for an ecological agriculture course.

• Sodexo Campus Services, which provides food service at Binghamton, has participated in the Food Alliance for the past several years. Food Alliance partners commit to use as much in-season, organic and local produce and dairy products as possible.

• Since the 1970s, the Binghamton Food Co-op, a nonprofit student-run organization, has been offering low-cost organic groceries including produce, ecologically friendly ingredients and personal care products.