Protecting the Earth's Resources for Future Generations
ARAMARK Higher Education has a deep respect for and commitment to protecting and improving our planet earth. We work to reduce our environmental footprint while delivering exceptional operational results. We strive to develop innovative environmental stewardship programs within the areas of Sustainable Food; Green Buildings; Blue Cleaning; Waste Stream Management; Responsible Procurement; Energy and Water Conservation; and Transportation.
This commitment, our Green Thread™ program, weaves throughout our business operations every day. Our promise to positively affect change in the environment is called Green Stakes™. As part of our environmental stewardship platform, we develop unique solutions for our clients that align with their mission.
By 2010, ARAMARK Higher Education is committed to:
- Implement an Energy and Water Conservation
- Purchase only Paper Products with Recycled Content
- Use only Daily Green Cleaning Products
- Divert 100% of our Fryer Oil Waste
- Increase our level of Sustainable Food purchases by 5% per year
The environmental and social impact of the Green Stakes commitments includes:
- Reduction of approximately 170 million pounds of emissions through implementation of energy and water conservation programs -- equivalent to the annual emissions from 14,744 passenger vehicles
- Conversion of $25 million of paper products to recycled content paper products, supporting closed-loop waste management processes
- Utilization of all daily green cleaning products, aligning with green cleaning standards outlined in U.S. Green Building Council's LEED programs, improving indoor environmental health for our customers and employees
- Diversion of 100% of nearly 500,000 gallons of fryer oil purchased, resulting in a reduction of approximately 3.5 million pounds of emissions, or the carbon sequestered by 40,000 trees grown for 10 years
- Increase sustainable food purchasing by 28%
ARAMARK has been a tireless proponent of Trayless Dining, having conducted the industry's most comprehensive study of its benefits.
As part of our conservation efforts, Trayless dining has yielded exceptional results:
- Over 65% of ARAMARK partner campuses have removed trays from their dining halls, reducing food waste by more than 14 million pounds. In environmental terms, this translates to reduction or mitigation of approximately 12,700 metric tons of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to removing over 2,400 passenger vehicles or filling 2,708 football fields with trees for 10 years.
Read about our Green Thread in Action for a sampling of our ongoing commitment to a better tomorrow.