SBU Eats Powers a Greener Campus with Everyday Earth-Friendly Actions

SBU Eats celebrates the Earth every day through every ingredient, every meal and every sustainable choice. From composting kitchen scraps to growing hyper-local produce and redirecting excess food to those in need, SBU Eats is turning everyday dining into an opportunity to honor the planet.

These efforts played a vital role in Stony Brook University earning a STARS 3.0 Silver Rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), recognizing our shared commitment to sustainability. By championing low-carbon menus, planet-friendly packaging and food systems that give back, SBU Eats is proving that mindful dining can drive meaningful change.

"Food connects us all, and by putting sustainability at the heart of campus dining, we're helping students build lifelong habits that extend beyond their time at Stony Brook," explained Diana Kubik, executive director of the Auxiliary Services Association. "We're making sure that what we do every day creates a real impact by giving students the resources, knowledge, and inspiration to make planet-friendly choices every time they eat with us."

Explore how SBU Eats makes dining sustainable every day!

Micro-Farm Brings Innovation Straight to the Plate
Last spring, SBU Eats launched the "Cultivated Cabinet," a micro-farm located at East Side Dining, which puts ultra-local produce at the heart of every meal. Now, a second micro-farm has been installed at West Side Dining to grow a variety of fresh greens, herbs and edible flowers just steps from where they're served. By incorporating hyper-local ingredients into daily menus, the micro-farm transforms the dining experience and supports food transparency and environmental responsibility.

Supporting Local: Grown Right Here in New York
SBU Eats participates in the New York State Food Product Program. By sourcing locally grown and processed foods, SBU Eats serves fresher, seasonal ingredients while fueling the state's agricultural economy and supporting New York farmers and producers.

Smart Giving: Food Recovery in Action
In 2024, SBU Eats launched a food recovery initiative in partnership with CareIt, a tech company dedicated to reducing food waste and addressing food insecurity. Through the CareIt mobile app, surplus prepared food from Stony Brook University is matched with local nonprofit organizations, including churches and community groups, for timely pickup and redistribution. SBU Eats has donated more than 4,000 pounds of surplus prepared food to the local community.

Tracking the Carbon Foodprint
Every bite counts when it comes to sustainability. Through real-time dashboards, SBU Eats measures the carbon, water and waste of our dining operations, including the environmental impact of the food we purchase. These insights help us create smarter menus, reduce emissions and empower the campus community to make more environmentally friendly choices with every meal.

Climate Labeling: Know What You're Eating and Its Impact
SBU Eats makes it easy to make climate-conscious choices with menus that feature recipes that meet the low-carbon standards set by the Plant Forward Collaboration. These dishes have a total ingredient footprint of no more than 1.9 kgCO₂e/kg per kilogram and only include items with clearly defined emissions data. It's one small label that can lead to a big difference for the planet.

Planet-Friendly Packaging Starts with You
SBU Eats has reduced waste by providing students on a meal plan with a complimentary green, reusable takeout container for use at East Side and West Side dine-in locations. By choosing reusables, our campus community has the power to divert more than 2.5 million single-use containers out of landfills, reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and shrink our collective carbon footprint. Anyone can join the movement and purchase a reusable container for just $5. Additionally, Roth Café and the SAC Food Court utilize durable, eco-friendly to-go containers made with 40 percent natural materials through green manufacturing, thereby reducing plastic usage with every meal served.

Smarter Kitchens, Greener Future
SBU Eats is tackling food waste head-on with the Waste Not 2.0 program, an innovative, chef-driven tracking tool designed to reduce kitchen waste. By identifying exactly what's being tossed, our culinary teams can take meaningful steps to prevent it. This intuitive platform not only reduces waste and food costs but also supports our sustainability goals with tangible data and measurable results. It's about making every ingredient count.

Turning Food Waste into Green Energy
Through its composting program, the SBU Eats kitchen teams collect food prep waste in Waste Not containers, which are processed off-site into clean organic material. It is then transformed into green energy, nutrient-rich compost or a slurry that boosts energy at wastewater plants. It's a smart, sustainable system that helps power a greener campus, one bucket at a time.