Food & Waste

Food and Waste

Initiative

Increase waste diversion and improve food access

LEAD: University Center and Office of Facilities Management
with support from the Office of Sustainability

Definition

This strategy aims to advance UTA's urban agriculture movement, expand food access, and promote responsible consumption. Efforts are made to establish a campus greenhouse for research and partnerships with local businesses. Managing waste focuses on promoting a culture of reuse, enhancing recycling and composting processes, and increasing waste diversion. This includes streamlining waste management, making it easier to recycle and compost, and instilling a culture of reuse and repair.

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Strategies

Near goal indicator  Action Items: 5

  • Add garden location to wayfinding signage
  • Create a student-led awareness campaign and events to learn about urban agriculture and composting
  • Explore ways to increase garden bed capacity to respond to increase in demand for space
  • Have Landscape Architecture students design garden spaces for multipurpose community areas
  • Add community garden to online Campus Map

Near goal indicator  Action Items: 3

  • Emphasize the importance of minimizing food waste
  • Provide clear signage about where to get and how to use to-go containers
  • Have varied and balanced vegan meal options available at every meal

Near goal indicator  Action Items: 5

  • Standardize and color code bins and locate them in prominent, high traffic locations
  • Increase quantity of recycling bins across campus, include at least one bin per building level
  • Provide simple, large signage with educational graphics that explain what goes in each bin
  • Increase visibility/improve accessibility of waste and recycling assets using Tactile WasteFinder floor mats
  • Expand donations and composting in catering services

Middle goal indicator  Action Items: 3

  • Partner with local farmers through The Common Market - Texas to establish a preferred supplier program for UTA dining services (prioritize fresh produce, dairy, and proteins)
  • Create a farm-to-table dining services practice through the expansion of UTA's growing capacity. This may include the establishment of a campus greenhouse and UTA-owned garden plots
  • Partner with local restaurants and campus dining

Middle goal indicator  Action Items: 2

  • Start a Repair CafĂ©, which specializes in teaching consumers the skills necessary to repair their own goods, rather than replacing them
  • Expand upon the existing collection of discarded items by creating a campus surplus/reuse store where used items can be donated and found by students. Hold monthly in-person events that offer items for free to students, faculty, and staff

Middle goal indicator  Action Items: 5

  • Create a centralized recycling center on campus
  • Research and improve methods and logistics for campus composting and recycling operations
  • Streamline waste management process by partnering with a service for evaluation and customized programming
  • Reduce single use plastics in dining halls and eliminate all remaining Styrofoam from dining operations
  • Create an educational program for reducing recycling contamination

Long goal indicator  Action Items: 4

  • Utilize as a living laboratory for relevant academic programs, incorporate caretaking into curriculum
  • Recruit volunteers to help with garden operations
  • Explore implementing vertical farming practices
  • Explore collaboration opportunities with TASTE Project

Long goal indicator  Action Items: 4

  • Incorporate campus-wide policy for construction waste diversion into Office of Facilities Management standards and specifications
  • Track construction and demolition waste on all campus construction projects
  • Create/update contractor's application for qualification to include agreement to abide by UTA policy for construction waste diversion
  • Incorporate the practice of salvage and reuse of building materials whenever possible prior to demolition