Food Systems Progress, 2018-22
We strive to build food systems that support a healthy body and a healthy planet, strengthen local communities, and minimize waste.
2018 Pitt Sustainability Plan Goals
- PROCUREMENT: Support a local, fair, ecologically sound, and humane food system by expanding the Real Food Challenge across campus to serve 25% Real Food by 2025.
- PLANT-FORWARD: Serve meals that put plants at the center of the plate by decreasing the amount of animal-derived products sold by 25% by 2025 (from 2017 baseline).
- TO-GO MEALS: Serve 50% of to-go meals in reusable containers by 2025.
- TO-GO DRINKS: Serve 50% of to-go beverages in reusable containers by 2025.
Where We Are: Expanding Vision
Pitt Eats Sustainability:
Since becoming Pitt’s dining contractor in 2020, Chartwells has instituted several new sustainability initiatives impacting the 30,000 meals served on campus daily. Though not addressed by the original Pitt Sustainability Plan goals, these strategies reflect the University’s intention to provide students and employees with more sustainable and healthy food on-campus that also strengthens our communities and environment. Examples include:
- Achieving four (4) Sustainable Pittsburgh Restaurant certifications and six (6) Live Well Allegheny designations for campus dining locations;
- Growing hyperlocal herbs and leafy greens using on-campus hydroponic growing units; and
- Serving Fair Trade Certified coffee and chocolate in coffee shops across campus.
Where We Are: Food Sourcing
Real Food Challenge
Pitt participates in the Real Food Challenge (RFC), a national initiative to source more local and sustainable foods throughout campus dining.
- “Real Food” is defined by RFC according to a standard that includes 4 categories: local, fair, ecologically sound, and humane foods. For FY22, the University purchased 14% “Real Food” across all dining locations (an increase from 10% in FY19 and 21).
- 10% of all FY22 purchases were local and community-based, which includes products and producers who are within 250 miles of Pitt, are small- or mid-sized for their market, and are independently or co-operatively owned.
- These producers included Bauman Orchards, Fifth Season, Jubilee Hilltop Ranch, and Turner Dairy.
Cool Food Pledge
In 2019, the University of Pittsburgh was one of the first three (3) universities worldwide to join the global Cool Food Pledge to cut food-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 25% by 2030 (a level of ambition in line with achieving the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI).
For calendar year 2021, Pitt’s food-related GHG emissions were 15.5% below our 2017 baseline, with GHG emissions “per plate” (i.e., per 1,000 kcal) down 25% from our 2017 baseline. For CY21, Pitt performed better in GHG emissions per plate than both the average North American diet and other higher education Cool Food Pledge members.
Working with WRI to calculate food-related GHG emissions has also enabled Pitt to include food purchases in the University’s annual GHG inventory; Pitt’s FY21 GHG inventory revealed that food purchases accounted for 1.7% of the University’s GHG emissions (more than paper, refrigerants, solid waste, and wastewater combined).
HowGood on Menus
In Fall 2022, Pitt Eats took Pitt Cool Food goals to menus across campus, introducing climate labeling to our dining halls so students can see which meals have lower relative social and environmental impacts with the HowGood system.
Delicious climate-friendly menu options on-campus include items such as:
- Beyond Bolognaise,
- Baharat Roasted Carrots,
- Palestinian Fattoush,
- Saffron-Laced Moroccan Tagine,
- Jerk Cauliflower Roti,
- Curried Chickpea Hash,
- Roasted Moroccan Chickpeas,
- Ratatouille,
- Zatar Roasted Cauliflower and Chickpeas.
- Wicked Pie and Pom & Honey also feature plant-forward menus.
Farmers Market
Since 2015, Pitt has hosted weekly seasonal Farmers Markets in the William Pitt Union Plaza to connect local, small business food vendors with the Pitt community.
- Through 69 markets, Pitt community members have spent more than $160,000 in direct campus tender (i.e., dining dollars, Pitt Cash, and Panther Funds) at 34 local vendors; most vendors generate less than half of sales from campus tender.
- Over 7 years, the Pitt Farmers Market has generated an estimated $500,000 in economic impact for Allegheny County’s food systems.
- Pitt’s Farmers Market is one of a very few campus markets nationally that allows campus tender to be used for market vendors.
- Pitt Farmers Markets provided opportunities for small local and minority-owned businesses to establish their businesses. Vendors are also offered the opportunity to sell wares through the various campus stores.
- Millie’s Homemade Ice Cream was able to grow their business as a Pitt Farmers Market vendor before operating a scoop shop in Oakland.
Pitt Eats Local
In 2020, an expansion of meal plan vendors enabled $772,000 in Dining Dollars to be spent at off-campus eateries by students, supporting local restaurants during the COVID-19 pandemic recovery.
Where We Are: Zero Waste Dining Behind The Scenes
While many aspects of the University’s materials diversion practices are visible, quite a few zero waste dining practices occur behind the scenes in kitchens and prep areas.
Pre-Consumer Food Waste Diversion:
In Fall 2019, pre-consumer food waste collection was deployed across campus kitchens for composting, with 21.3 tons of organic waste collected from Pitt kitchens for FY22. Kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, and other inedible organic waste were collected through a partnership with a local compost hauler. In August 2022, our small business partner closed, requiring a temporary pause on compostable collection from kitchens until a new vendor is found.
Cooking Oil:
Pitt has collected and recycled cooking oil from all campus facilities for quite a long time. From Fall 2020 through Summer 2022, Pitt Eats recycled 31,179 pounds of cooking oil.
Food Recovery:
Led by student group Food Recovery Heroes, the University of Pittsburgh has been recovering and donating surplus food from campus dining facilities since 2014. From 2014 through September 2022, Pitt has donated nearly 130,000 pounds of surplus food to local hunger-fighting agencies; that’s approximately 107,938 meals recovered.
Food Rescue Heroes and Pitt Eats partner with 412 Food Rescue and the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank to divert and track surplus food from campus.
In 2015, Pitt was the first school in the Atlantic Coast Conference to become a Food Recovery Verified campus. In 2018, Food Recovery Heroes won Pennsylvania Resource Council’s Zero Waste Excellence Award and were recognized by the U.S. EPA for their campus-wide food recovery efforts.
Where We Are: Zero Waste To-go
BYO[Cup]
Pitt’s BYO[Cup] program was formally launched in 2016 to help serve 50% of to-go beverages in reusable containers by 2025.
- Between 2016 and 2022, the program prevented at least 91,610 single-use cups from ending up in landfills (a conservative number, as tracking this metric can prove difficult and the program paused for two years at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic).
- Due to widespread use of campus-wide hydration stations, it’s hard to accurately account for all to-go beverages on-campus; however, pre-pandemic, University dining tracked reusable to-go beverages at 14%. Reflecting a return to a disposable ethos of the global pandemic, only 2% of to-go beverages served by Pitt Eats from campus-run coffee shops and retail dining locations in FY22 were in reusable containers.
- To expand reusable beverage container options campus-wide, Pitt Eats launched a campus-wide Soda Stream subscription in Fall 2022.
Choose to ReUse
The University of Pittsburgh launched its Choose to Reuse program in 2016. In 2018, the goal was set to serve 50% of to-go meals in reusable containers by 2025. In eight (8) years, 76,820 reusable
containers have been exchanged on-campus, helping reduce 10 tons of single–use packaging.
- Slowed down by the COVID-19 pandemic, Pitt served 2% of all to-go meals in reusables in FY22.
- Though short of our interim goals, the Choose to Reuse program has experienced exponential growth — and is now the only option for takeout dining from The Eatery and Perch (Pitt’s residential dining locations).
- Returned containers each have the potential to displace more than 300 single-use containers in their lifetime.
Where We Are: Student Food Connections
Over the past several years, Pitt has introduced and advanced a multitude of opportunities for students to learn about and engage with sustainable food systems at Pitt and around Pittsburgh.
Food Ecosystems Scholar Community
In 2019, the Frederick Honors College launched a Food Ecosystems Scholar Community, now dubbed ScholarCHEF (Community, Honors, Ecosystems, Food) to connect students with faculty and community experts with a variety of expertise in food ecosystems. Partnering with Food21, ScholarCHEF is advancing agricultural, engineering, health, and business techniques to equitably grow local food’s economic impact from farm to plate.
Plant2Plate Student Gardens
Run entirely by students, Plant2Plate grew out of a 2009 student course project. As student-run produce gardens, the Plant2Plate student organization has a mission to connect community members with their food through hands-on learning. In 2021, the University hired the first paid Plant2Plate Garden Intern to help fulfill this mission and create more opportunities for the organization’s hundreds of volunteers, including expansion plans.
