Dining: Economic Sustainability 

• BYOC! Save $0.35 per coffee drink for bringing your own cup to any ISU Dining location. Not only does this save money for customers, it also prevents disposable cups from entering the landfill each year.
• ISU Dining employs nearly 1,200 students per year, creating valuable job opportunities for our campus. Once student employees graduate, their work uniforms are donated to the Goodwill Good Wipes program, which repurposes clothing items unsuitable for sale into reusable cleaning cloths.
• By selling its used grease, ISU Dining earns a profit while also reducing its carbon footprint.
• ISU Dining spends at approximately 10% of its annual budget to support the Farm to ISU Program. Founded in 2007, the Farm to ISU Program includes purchases in three different categories:
  • Iowa-based products, such as Anderson Erickson Dairy and Blue Bunny Ice Cream
  • Locally-grown products, such as apples, peppers, onions, and more from the ISU Horticulture Research Station.  Along with a variety of other produce and proteins from a variety of local producers. To learn more about locally grown products used in on-campus dining, check out the educational video on ISU Dining’s YouTube website.
  • Partners with Stanley L. Balloun Turkey Teaching and Research Facility to procure deli turkey meat served throughout ISU Dining on campus.
• Organic and sustainable products, such as fair trade coffee, candies, and snacks.
• Iowa State, along with The University of Northern Iowa, contract together with Martin Bros., a local family-owned food distributor based out of Cedar Falls, along with dairy and convenience store purchases. By working together, this enables the regent universities to merge their buying power to ensure best purchasing prices.
• ISU Dining employs nearly 1,200 students per year, offering beneficial economic sustainability opportunities.

• Environmental Sustainability

• Social Sustainability