SHL students assist ECU with sustainable project

The School of Hospitality Leadership’s senior cost control class partnered with ECU’s Sustainability Manager Chad Carwein and ECU Dining to compile the list of food products ECU Dining purchases to determine what products meet the criteria to be quantified as plant-based and sustainably or ethical produced.

East Carolina University has recognized the importance of sustainability and chosen to participate in the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS). Established by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), STARS is a voluntary, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to gauge progress toward sustainability and be acknowledged for their leadership.

Student-led teams, in coordination and with guidance from Craig Marshall, SHL Instructor for the course, and Chad Carwein, ECU’s sustainability manager, were provided documents and invoices by ECU Dining that listed all the items purchased in school year. Each student team was assigned a different category of food. For example, one group looked at canned and dry food, and another group looked at produce.

Chad Carwein

“Our goal with this project was to establish a baseline inventory of food and beverage purchases by Aramark for ECU Dining Services,” said Carwein. “We had never done anything like this before, but I think the project turned out great, and we’ve learned a lot from this experience.  I hope that it was mutually beneficial and that the students also were able to gain something valuable out of the project.”

The students were tasked to determine if the food meets the criteria to be considered plant-based and sustainably or ethical produced. They compared the food manufacturer and process to the STARS criteria for each of the two categories. If a product manufacturer could not be determined, a list of those products was given to ECU dining, who then gave the list to SYSCO. SYCSO sent the list back and identified the manufacturer so the students could confirm if the newly identified manufacturer met the criteria for plant-based and sustainably or ethical produced.

After all the food products were reviewed, the students looked for products that met the STARS criteria and provided that information to ECU Dining. Along with providing the alternative products, the students also provided an analysis to ECU dining that explained how much of these purchases meet the STARS criteria for each of the categories.

Added Carwein, “the next step for me is to compile their findings from each of the six food and beverage categories then use that information to report on the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS) credit.  Once we’re able to breakdown this data and further analyze it, I think we’ll be more informed to meet with Aramark and ECU Dining staff and then begin looking into more sustainable or ethically produced food and beverage products.”

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