Years before she came to Northwestern University, Katie Mansur considered herself to be a “classic Bay Area environmentalist.” So it was only natural that she became involved in sustainability groups when she arrived on campus her freshman year.

One of the groups she joined was the Associated Student Government (ASG) Sustainability Committee. Now a senior majoring in economics and legal studies, Mansur is still a part of the committee, but she has worked her way up to vice president of sustainability, a role in which she can pursue her passion while working to support Northwestern’s newly released Strategic Sustainability Plan.

“Our role in that is essentially spreading the word to the student body, helping students get involved in initiatives in whatever way they see fit, and when students come to us with ideas, helping them take action in their own way,” Mansur said.

Some initiatives ASG has supported include composting dining hall waste and the Choose to Reuse program in the Elder dining hall where students pay $5 for the year to fill up reusable containers and take their meals to go.

Efforts such as these to reduce the university’s impact from food services abound, and they will not be slowing down with the sustainability plan’s rigorous objectives. Among these objectives for resource conservation are waste reduction, environmentally preferable purchasing, and sustainable food.

“We’ve been working toward a lot of these initiatives prior to it being released, but now it’s our roadmap of how we’re going to get to another level of sustainability,” said Julie Cahillane, sustainability associate director for sustainNU, the campus-wide program responsible for the plan. “We can’t do the things in there without partnerships and collaboration and support from across the institution, and that means students, faculty, staff, and our outside vendors and contractors.”

Perhaps the most essential partnership is with Sodexo, the company Northwestern contracts to run campus dining services. Loren Murphy joined Sodexo as director of sustainability initiatives in May 2017.

“We determined as a company that, in order to better support sustainability and the university’s initiatives, this role was really critical in making sure that we align our operations in full support of the university’s sustainability goals,” Murphy said.

Many of Sodexo’s efforts so far have focused on waste diversion, the first objective for resource conservation in the NU plan. The major goal is to divert 50 percent of waste from landfills by 2020, and sustainNU plans to draft a solid waste management plan soon to aid this endeavor. Northwestern dining currently works toward maximizing diversion by composting, donating unused food, holding zero-waste catering events, switching to reusables, and recycling cooking oil to support Loyola University’s biofuel program. Waste is also monitored with the ongoing Waste Watch program to minimize pre-consumer waste and the Weigh the Waste program that weighs dining hall leftovers to help students understand post-consumer waste. Murphy’s recommendations in this area are for students to be conscious of their portions and ask to taste food before committing to items.

“The biggest part students can take is starting to value food as a resource and to think every time you’re wasting food, that could have gone to another person in the Evanston community through our Campus Kitchens program to feed them,” Murphy said.

The Campus Kitchens Project is a national organization that strives to recover unused cafeteria and dining hall food to deliver meals to those in need. Northwestern’s Campus Kitchen, which recovers approximately 14,000 pounds each year, serves eight organizations in Chicago and Evanston.

“Because the dining halls never know exactly how many people they’re going to feed, and they obviously want to have enough food for everybody, there’s going to be some overage,” said program coordinator Samantha Warren. “Being able to step in and pick that up and use it in a meaningful way is really important.”

The second objective, environmentally preferable purchasing, focuses on purchasing “durable, reusable, recyclable, compostable, and environmentally conscious goods and services,” as well as securing contracts that support minimizing avoidable waste.

“We make sure that reusables are first, we get rid of unnecessary waste, we purchase and supply things that are recyclable and drive people in that direction where environmentally preferable purchasing is the priority,” Cahillane said.

Murphy also noted the new ‘Cats Cup program as part of this reusable effort. Students can purchase plans to refill reusable cups at Coca-Cola Freestyle machines on campus, which is cheaper and less wasteful than beverages from campus convenience stores.

The final objective, sustainable food, aims to increase the use of foods in dining facilities. Although sustainNU is still working to define what “sustainable food” means to Northwestern, the university has already received an A+ on PETA’s Vegan Report Card and has started the Green Restaurant Certification process, a certification that looks at seven different dining-related impacts, including sustainable food. Five campus locations have been certified level one with a goal to grow to level four over the next five years.

A major focus of sustainable food is “Real Food,” a national movement to buy food that meets local, sustainable, humane, and fair criteria, with humane and fair encompassing treatment of animals and workers’ rights. Northwestern University President Morton Schapiro signed the Real Food Challenge in 2015, committing the university to a goal of 20 percent Real Food by 2020. The figure was around 5.5 percent at the end of last year and is on track to be at 12 percent by the end of 2017 with Sodexo’s help to implement product shifts, according to Morgan McFall-Johnsen, Real Food at Northwestern University (NURF) co-director.

“Real Food is important because the food system has such a vast and deep impact in this world,” she said. “The whole food service sector, all the way from putting the seeds into the ground to the moment that food goes into your mouth, there are a lot of steps along the way there and that impacts a lot of people.”

Joining organizations like NURF and ASG is a great way for students interested in sustainability to get involved. Campus Kitchens also has regular volunteer shifts for students to help recover, catalog, or deliver food. Another club on campus focused on sustainable food is Wild Roots, which runs a garden at Norris University Center and has begun donating fresh produce for Campus Kitchens to add to their meals again after a few years hiatus.

“Especially at Northwestern, where the environmentalist perspective and organization is rather niche and small, it’s really important to keep the organizations that do exist visible and strong and happening,” said Amos Pomp, co-president of Wild Roots, a student-run garden outside of the Norris University Center that provides fresh foods for the Norris kitchen. Gardening season will start again in the spring, and students are welcome to help garden on designated work days each week.

Beyond joining or volunteering with these organizations, taking part in reusable programs, being conscious of food waste, and taking actions that support the implementation roadmap are all ways students can help lessen Northwestern’s environmental impact. Mansur of ASG also reminds students to reach out to their senators or her sustainability committee if there are any issues that need addressed.

“Northwestern students are involved in so many diverse passions, and I think that’s what makes our Northwestern community so incredible,” Mansur said, “but when it comes to sustainability, I think we need to put a little bit more effort into changing everyday behavior for Northwestern students.”