UCLA Catering Services and ASUCLA Catering both cater events on UCLA's campus. As such, both entities are subject to UCLA’s goal of being waste free by 2020, and have been taking steps to meet or exceed the UC Policy on Sustainable Practices. UCLA Catering uses exclusively recyclable and compostable utensils, and is working on changing their recyclable containers to compostable ones. They source much of their food from a 50 mile radius, although there is room for improvement, namely making imported canned and packaged goods in-house. They also claim to recycle or compost 99% of their waste. ASUCLA Catering utilizes electric carts to transport food, composts, and is working on switching to compostable "to-go" containers.
The biggest challenges faced by both organizations are educating employees and customers. Therefore, we recommend waste disposal training for all new-hires as well as periodic reassessments. We also recommend that ASUCLA adopt the signage and instruction materials that UCLA Catering uses (seen below), and that both organizations provide different colored bins with educational posters whenever catering an event. Finally, we recommend that both catering services, and UCLA overall, aim to obtain environmental certifications, namely the Marine Stewardship Council, the Green Seal Standard for Restaurants and Food Services, and the Real Food Campus Commitment, by continuing to switch to locally and sustainably grown foods and compostable packaging and utensils.
Group 9 - Leyla Farzaneh, Yassine Hamdouni Alami, Zachary Alter, Maxim Guzman
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