Food and Dining

In its commitment to sustainability, the University of Denver recognizes the importance of local and fair trade food purchasing. As such, between 5 and 10 percent of all food purchases, including meats and produce, come from 30 local producers and the university purchases milk from a local dairy. All coffee on campus is certified fair trade or organic. Sodexho, the contracted food supplier and catering service of the university, employs the following sustainable practices:

• Offers fair trade coffee
• Offers organic coffee
• Offers rainforest alliance coffee
• Sustainable seafood
• Hormone and antibiotic free milk
• Green seal chemicals
• Dioxin-free napkins
• Trans fat-free
• Reusable food donation program in partnership with the Rocky Mountain Food Bank
• Low flow disposal system

For more information visit the DU Dining Services sustainability page. 

Housing and Residential Education (HRE)

Many initiatives have been started in Housing and Residential Education to increase awareness and educate our community about the importance of sustainability. Recent initiatives include the the following:

HRE Green Teams- we're a group of students and staff in HRE working on sustainability programming, policies, purchasing, and facilities issues in the residence halls.  Let us know if you'd like to join the team, e-mail Christy Cerrone. 

Johnson-McFarlane Residence Hall has earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) ENERGY STAR certification, which means that the building performs in the top 25 percent of residence halls in the country.

Residence Hall Energy and Water Conservation Contest- in the fall quarter, the residence halls reduced water usage by 1.08 million gallons compared to the same time period last year, and reduced electricity usage by 102,962 kwh (which reduced our carbon output by 189,450 pounds)!

Partnerships with Sodexo, DU Custodial, DU Maintenance, LLCs, and other departments and offices on campus.