nuGreen

Sustainability

At nuCuisine, we pride ourselves on using only the best brands and products to prepare our food. Everything we serve in our dining locations is made from the finest ingredients.

Making Sustainability a Priority

Sustainability is a priority for us at nuCuisine and we continue to develop a more sustainable dining program.

We work with Campus Kitchens to donate unused portions of food for the unfortunate in the Evanston area.
Recycling containers are in all offices and retail locations.
We only use natural napkins which are made of 100% recycled material and a Bleach free process.
Starbucks coffee cups are made of 10% post consumer recycled fiber.
Seattle’s Best coffee sleeves are made from 60% post-consumer recycled fiber and uses approximately 45% less material than a second paper cup.
We sell Ice Mountain Water, which has decreased the amount of raw materials used in their bottling process and all of their bottles are 100% recyclable.
We do not use any endangered fish or any type of endangered seafood.
All resident and retail dining locations recycle their cooking oil through Mahoney, a company that picks up the oil and recycles it to make animal feed. We have also given cooking oil to the Idea Waste Vegetable Oil Team at Northwestern University to do research on bio diesel oil.
The milk served in the resident dining locations is rBGH & BGH free. We puchase milk from a local dairy in Rockford. They get the milk from dairy farms in Illinois and Wisconsin not more than 30-40 miles from the Illinois border. In Illinois dairy farms are located in Jo Daviess, Stevenson, Winnebago, Boone, McHenry, Kane, DeKalb and Ogle counties. In Wisconsin dairy farms are located in Lafayette, Green, Rock and Walworth counties.
As part of our effort to create a more environmentally sustainable operation, we have chosen to use the Ecolab Apex warewashing system. This system will help reduce consumption of natural resources and plastic packaging. The Apex system not only features non-caustic, low-phosphorus* chemistry, but also operates our dish machines more efficiently—often by 10% or higher. This operational efficiency translates into a significant savings of water and energy.
Our locations have switched to environmentally friendly dish soaps and cleaning sanitizers.
In 2007, Northwestern was named Peta2's Most Vegetarian Friendly College.
In spring quarter 2008, dining services started using biodegradable plastic bags in the c-stores and retail locations for customers that needed a bag for carry out items.
In fall quarter 2008, we started selling reusable bags that students are able to purchase at cost so they do not have to use plastic carry out bags. For each bag purchased we will donate $1 to Campus Kitchens.
We are tray-free at Elder and Willard dining locations and encourage tray-free dining at all other resident dining locations. By going tray-free we use less energy and water to wash each tray. It takes about ¼ gallon of water to wash just one tray. Research also shows that you are tray-free the amount of food waste decreases by one ounce per plate. The average person throws 163 pounds of food away each year!
Filtered water stations have been installed in all six resident dining locations. Students can now bring in their reusable bottle and fill it up with filtered water. By reusing bottles, students are helping cut back on the 22 billion water bottles that end up in landfills or incinerators each year and they are preventing greenhouse gas emissions associated with transporting bottled water.
A pulper was installed in Elder Dining Location. This pulper is designed to reduce waste volume by up to 80%, conserving both water and energy.