OUR CAMPUS COMMITMENT

Acadia University grows its own greens in innovative local food project

More on Acadia's Hydroponics

WELLNESS

• Offering Wellpower and BeWell+ menu items to promote healthier eating
• Providing only trans-fat free cooking oil and margarine
• Actively promoting meatless options
  • Friday Instagram takeovers with residence student, Karen, who follows a vegan diet
  • Highlighting flexitarian station at Wheelock Dining Hall with large format graphics
  • Participating in Pulses Canada Week to educate and inform students about Canadian grown pulses
• Serve organic produce from the Acadia Farm
• Nutritional information available for menu items

ENVIRONMENT

• Participating in Stop Food Waste Day, an international food waste reduction education and awareness campaign
• Implementing sorting stations for recycling
• Purchasing 100% compostable, chlorine free napkins for the café and catering functions
• Using bulk condiments, milk and cream to reduce packaging waste
• Implementing food waste awareness in the production kitchen, Lean Path waste management system weighs food waste and tracks via web based system
• Composting food waste in the production kitchen and dining areas
• Compost donated to Irving Centre for their botanical gardens and to the Acadia Community Farm
• Lug-a-Mug Program - offering a discount on reusable beverage containers
• Implementing water and energy reduction practices in the production kitchen
• Trayless dining to reduce water and energy usage and preventing consumer generated food waste
• Project Clean Plate – awareness program to reduce food waste in residential dining
• Working with Acadia Facilities and Operations to reduce energy usage through demand ventilation controls on kitchen exhaust hoods
• Catering Service provided using ceramic and reusable dishware
• Catering Services provides pitchers of beverages in reusable containers unless requested by customer to have bottled beverages.
• Participate in Acadia Sustainability Week

SUPPLY CHAIN

• Purchasing and promoting local, seasonal produce and products, as available
• Hosting Farmers Markets to support local farmers and vendors
• Delivering a Styrofoam-free foodservice operation
• Purchasing compostable, biodegradable disposables
• Purchasing sustainable seafood
• Supporting our campus student garden
• Partners in the Fair Trade Campus designation
  • Offering locally roasted, certified Fair Trade coffee
  • Offering certified Fair Trade tea, cocoa, sugar, chocolate bars and bananas
• Installed wall murals to communicate local and hyper-local purchases

COMMUNITY

• Chartwells Campus Project 2018
  • $5500 in funding for ASU Food Cupboard
• Participate and champion Fair Trade Campus week
• Partner with local Just Us! Coffee roaster to offer pop-up events
  • Fair Trade Hot Chocolate Bar
  • Fair Trade Gourmet Coffee Station
  • Loose Leaf Tea Pop-Up
• Annual donation of food for race participants for local “Run for the Cure”
• Support Acadia S.M.I.L.E. program with annual financial donation
• Donation to Acadia Farm for purchase of a cart for bicycle transport of produce around campus and the community
• Support student initiatives and projects with promotional support and project funding
  • School of Nutrition and Dietetics
  • School of Business
• Support and Promote Meal Exchange initiatives Share a Meal and Trick or Eat
  • Deliver and promote Share a Meal donations to local elementary schools
• Donations of food and beverage to student wellness projects and events
  • Exercise is Medicine
  • Relay for Life
  • African Heritage Month
  • Acadia Mental Health Initiative
  • Fun Run

We are happy to share that we have added 
L.J. Robicheau & Son Fisheries Ltd to
our local supplier list!

Acadia Dining Services is proud to support student
led initiatives at Acadia University! In 2018 this
included Acadia's plastic free campus
movement by eliminating plastic straws as
well as plastic bags on campus. In 2019,
through a student project, we are replacing
our disposable salt and pepper shakers at
Wheelock Dining Hall with a more
sustainable and reusable option!

Acadia University is the first Fair Trade Campus
in the Maritimes! Did you know Wolfville was
designated the first Fair Trade Town in Canada
and our Fair Trade coffee supplier, Just Us! was
the first designated Fair Trade coffee roaster
in Canada?

Our Director of Food Services, Laura
Miller, going bananas for Fair Trade
Campus Week 2018. We don't just find
Fair Trade Campus Week apPEELing,
we love it and look forward to supporting
Fair Trade throughout the entire year!

The Acadia Community Farm is a special part of
the food system on campus. The farm coordinator, 
Sarah, under the direction of the Acadia Sustainability
Coordinator, Jodie, collaborates with our Chef in
the spring and plans the garden plantings based on
the ingredients we need at the dining hall. From April
2016 to March 2017 we purchased $1266.55 from the
Acadia Community Farm.