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Glazier-SAP-Showcase Video.mp4Bailey Glazier
Please play video for narrative.Sellnau-poster.pdfMargaux Sellnau
The Sustainable Agriculture Project (SAP) is a place of learning and exploration. It's a place that started 10 years ago, but the culture in the land was growing for a long time before that. When the SAP was created, it had a lot of intention behind it to follow the triple bottom line. This is how their practices and principles managed to be intertwined deeply in them.First: seeding sustainable food practices. They're exceptional at implementing these and educating classes on these practices, this is one of their strengths with this practice. Although, they lack access and usability to the SAP handbook, where these practices are featured. Additionally, when advocating for these practices, it is important that there is data and analysis to back up their case. This is why I recommend a more precise data collection and analysis system.
Second: cultivating leadership and learning. This is something I learned first hand, they excel at one on one mentorship as well as offering a place for students to explore and grow. Although, they lack diversity in committed student organizations in the space and vigorous programs. Farm Club is very involved, as well as Bee Club, but incorporating more programs to use this space consistently. This is why I recommend invitations of different student organizations to use the space, and to continue building these relationships. I also recommend a creation and implementation of a standardized and tiered curriculum system.
Third: nurturing place. Their farming practices are catered to the soil type and topography they have, hence nurturing the place. Additionally, they're respectful of competing with West MI growers. In retrospect, there is a lack of accessibility to cultural knowledge and "place" for everyone at the SAP. This is why I recommend developing a cultural guide for the SAP's land throughout history.
Lastly: growing community. The SAP has a very symbiotic relationship with the Farm Club as well as the ENS Program. This turns out to be one of their strengths. Although, they lack interconnectedness between STEM programs and the SAP as well as numbers of freshman and sophomores. My recommendation intertwines with their other goals, and this is to continuously invite different student organizations to use the space.
In conclusion, the triple bottom line incorporates business as well. The SAP's priority is not business, it is education. But I argue that in education, it is also important to maintain effective and efficient business practices. This is why I recommend more incorporation of lean business practices as well as an implementation of standard operating procedures.
Martin-poster.pdfTyler Martin
Grand Valley State University identifies sustainability as one of its core values, and this is echoed by GVSU Campus Dining on their website. But, eating in the campus dining halls my freshman year and working for Campus Dining the next, I couldn’t help notice that I see items sorted incorrectly in the waste bins every time I’m in the dining halls. A typical dining hall has 3 options for sorting waste, landfill, recycling, and compost - where organic materials are salvaged from food waste and compostable cutlery, bowls, cups, and other items. Ideally, as much waste as possible would be sorted into compost and recycling, with minimal waste being sent to a landfill. But in reality, the landfill bins fill up with items that have been sorted incorrectly and could be reused in some capacity. Despite signage at each and every dining hall waste station, and available online, there seems to be some component of human error in this system that Grand Valley and Campus Dining have invested time, resources, and funds into.Principles
The Green Team is a student organization under Campus Dining. The team is paid in ‘dining dollars’ or recieve volunteer hours, for standing next to the waste stations in the dining halls at GVSU and assisting students in correctly sorting their waste between the options provided at most dining halls: compost, recycling, and landfill. “Waste Streaming” in the dining halls is listed as Green Team's primary purpose on the GVSU website, they are essentially an effort by GVSU and students to make sure that the waste sorting stations are used effectively. Waste streaming in the dining halls is a big part of Campus Dining’s advertisements regarding their sustainability - although they also advertise their recycling of kitchen oil for biofuel, use of energy efficient lighting, and other similar practices. Physical waste, from dining halls and kitchens, likely remains one of the biggest potential sources of environmental footprints for the organization and the waste sorting initiative is both a point of pride and advertising.
Practices
Unfortunately, despite the efforts of Green Team, successful waste sorting remains low. In at least the past year, waste audits performed by Green Team (wherein Green Team will pick random bags from dining halls and kitchens, weigh them, resort them correctly, and reweigh to determine how successful sorting was) have consistently shown around 50% of waste sorted correctly. This potentially undermines the overall success of the system and potentially means bags sent to composting or recycling plants will instead be sent to the landfill due to contamination. Additionally, not all locations provide all sorting options. In the Crave dining hall, recycling options have been removed due to so much food waste being put into the recycling that it was causing the entire dumpster (which is shared with the Library which mainly produces uncontaminated paper recycling) to be rejected by the plant. Additionally, not all kitchens have adequate options for waste sorting, typically focusing only on compostable food waste, but often compostable or recyclable items like paper towels or plastics are put into the landfill.
Conclusion
The effort to reduce the amount of waste GVSU Campus Dining sends to the landfill is ongoing, but far from complete. In light of the challenges and low sorting numbers, Campus Dining and the Green Team are currently (although much of this is on hold given current social distancing guidelines and restaurant closures) working to make revisions to this system. The signage in the dining halls is being reviewed, and the role, scope, and structure of Green Team is being reconsidered in order to best assist and educate the students of GVSU on sustainable practices.
Veronica Sorensen
Kleiner is one of the dining halls located on Grand Valley State University’s north campus. This dining hall is regularly frequented by freshman and other students living in the dorms. Like many of the buildings on the Grand Valley campus, Kleiner tries to follow the standards of sustainability that have been set by this campus. There are many different practices and principles that Kleiner follows everyday. Arguably, the biggest practice is the compostable plastic. Every single utensil, straw, lid, and cup that is used at Kleiner is completely compostable. In fact, almost every single paper and plastic product used is compostable. On top of that, there are multiple compost trash bins located in every trash area. Students are strongly encouraged to quickly sort their trash before throwing it away. Another common practice is students are strongly encouraged to bring in their own reusable water bottles and cups for their drinks. There is a discount on fountain drinks for using your own cup and water is completely free with your own cup. They even provide discounts for coffee in the POD store with your own reusable mug. The employees at Kleiner also only use reusable towels to clean. When they are done using them, they are taken and washed and returned to use again. This significantly cuts down on single use paper towels and other single use cleaning products.One very important principle to Kleiner is promoting the concept of zero-waste. At least once a year, there is a zero-waste football game where every student is encouraged to sort their trash and use as little as possible. Kleiner also tries to run by this standard everyday. All food waste at Kleiner is closely monitored and tracked so employees know exactly how much waste is produced and where it is coming from. All employees are strongly encouraged to produce very little food waste and make the most of the ingredients. Each station’s waste is closely monitored and tracked. By limiting food waste, this not only helps food costs of the company, but also ensures that perfectly good food is not being thrown away.
This building, like many other Grand Valley buildings, is LEED certified. This means that when this building was constructed, it met specific requirements that made the building more sustainable and environmentally friendly. There is a plaque on the wall when you walk in the doors across from the building North C. By building the dining hall to be LEED certified, it shows that Grand Valley cares about their impact on the environment.
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