About
The Green2Go program allows Calvin Dining Services to reduce our carbon footprint while providing students, faculty & staff the ability to eat on the-go. You may purchase into the program for a $12 fee per academic year or $6 if purchased after January 1st.
Purchases and box exchanges can be made at any greeter stand in Commons Dining Hall. 100% of G2G program fees go towards the funding and continuation of this program.
Steps
- Purchase into the Green2Go program for $12 at any of our greeter stands in Commons.
- Bring your Green2Go container or CDS token to Commons Dining Hall when you are ready to use it (Tokens may be exchanged for a clean container at the greeter stand).
- Fill your Green2Go container in the Dining Hall.
- Please note, two meal swipes are required if you are filling your container & dining in.
- When finished with your container, it must be rinsed & free of any visible food debris prior to its return. Failure to do so may result in penalty. You may then return it to a greeter and receive a token in exchange.
- When you’re ready to utilize Green2Go again, repeat the process!
Stewards of the Environment
Calvin Dining Services employs many strategies to reduce our environmental footprint. Our many programs help us track and lower various types of food waste on campus and ert materials to a variety of locations on and off-campus; this includes the campus food pantry and Food Recovery Network. We pride ourselves on the responsible use of supplies and protecting the natural environment through sustainable practices to enhance ecosystem resilience and human well-being on the Calvin campus.
Sustainability Certifications and Programs
An acronym for the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. AASHE empowers higher education faculty, administrators, staff, and students to be effective change agents and drivers of sustainability innovation. They work with and for higher education to ensure that our world’s future leaders are motivated and equipped to solve sustainability challenges. As a member, our joint mission is to inspire and catalyze higher education to lead the global sustainability transformation.
The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System™ (STARS) is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities like Calvin to measure their sustainability performance. The intention is to engage and recognize the full spectrum of higher education institutions, from community colleges to research universities. This system encompasses long-term sustainability goals for already high-achieving institutions, as well as entry points of recognition for institutions that are taking first steps toward sustainability.
We are committed to nourishing our community by supporting its people— their businesses, farms, non-profits, and events. As a foodservice provider, we are inspired by the people living and working together to create a sustainable community.
Swipe Out Hunger is a national nonprofit committed to ending college student hunger—advising colleges and universities on the design of commonsense and innovative anti-hunger programs. This partnership allows us to implement “The Swipe Drive,” which enables students with extra meal swipes to donate them to their peers. More than meal swipes, our partnership with Swipe Out Hunger is designed to empower Calvin students to combat campus food insecurities and continue to drive the national conversation on student hunger.
What We're Doing
Calvin Dining is committed to sourcing food as locally as possible. We make this possible by working with local farms to strengthen our supply chain, building relationships within the community and supporting local business. Click here to view how we support local farms.
We remain dedicated to sustainable practices by only utilizing packaging with sustainable profiles, such as compostable plant polymer “plastic” made from corn resin, this allows us to help ert plastic from landfills and oceans.
Calvin Dining takes food waste very seriously, as it has negative environmental, social, and economic impacts— that’s why we are compelled to fight food wasted with TRASHED, our Top 10 ways to reduce food waste. Click here to view our TRASHED document.
We have a partnership with Food Recovery Network (FRN) to fight food waste and hunger in our community. FRN is a national nonprofit that unites students at colleges and universities by recovering perishable food.
Calvin Dining is a proud member of Farmstead. This organization is committed to buying directly from farmers and embraces the farm to table practices and standards of safe growing conditions such as clean water and lead testing.
Bit-Farms, a local small business, is an innovator in smart-farming which allows us to grow fresh and delicious food right inside Commons Dining Hall. By partnering with Bit-Farms, we help ensure safe growing conditions, clean water, and sustainably sourced crops.