Sustainability Initiatives

We don’t just talk about sustainability - we take action. Check out some of the ways we're reducing our environmental impact and creating a positive impact on our community.

Meet Your Sustainability Manager

Our full-time on-site Sustainability Manager works directly with the culinary team, operations managers, student experience team, and sourcing partners to optimize our practices and find new ways for you to get involved.

Hi, I’m Jennifer Mankiewicz!
I was born and raised in Delaware and attended East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania for my degree in Recreation Services Management. I am very excited to share my passion of Sustainability with you at the University of Delaware. Go Blue Hens!

Want to get involved? Contact me at jennmack@udel.edu

Working Toward Zero Waste

Reusable To Go Program
The Reuse Pass Program aims to reduce single-use plastic waste and promote sustainable practices among our students. Reusable to-go containers are available in the dining halls, Greens to Go, and Ecogrounds via the “ReusePass” shop in GrubHub app. Students will return containers within 3 days to get fresh containers for your next to-go meal.
Collaborative Composting
UD partners with Natural Upcycling to collect all food waste from our dining halls and student centers and delivers it to an anaerobic digester 20 miles away that will convert the waste into biogas and fertilizer and keep it out of the landfill.
Recycling for the Future
Use Oscar AI recycling bins at the dining halls and students centers to help you sort your trash in the right bins! Play and learn!

Your Choices Can Make a Daily Impact

Our goal is to make it easy to offer you nutritious, environmentally, and socially conscious options wherever possible.

Showcasing Our Local Partner Relationships

University of Delaware Dining Services sources food from many local farmers, growers, and distributors. Our partners change throughout the year depending on seasonality and availability.

Around the Bay Farmers’ Alliance (Princess Anne, MD)
Around the Bay Farmers’ Alliance was founded in 2022 by Jamaican native and agriculture expert from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Dr. Nadine Burton. The business aims to provide marketing services for eight small, diverse-led farms across the Chesapeake Bay. In an atmosphere where the pressure of farming can become overbearing and cumbersome at times, creating a place that helps to reduce the everyday farming struggle is the top priority for the Alliance, which grows a variety of seasonal produce as a means to advance food security for nearby communities.
Inoculated Farms (Fairfield,NJ
Joseph Aochoa and Caitlin DeSiervo, co-owners of Innoculated Farms, do not just grow mushrooms to make a living. For them, it’s a way of life. Joseph’s years of experience in mushroom cultivation gave him confidence to start his own business in 2021. But, it was his strong passion for providing people with natural, healthy food and making a positive impact on the world that inspired him to embrace this way of life officially. Their indoor, specialty mushroom farm operates year-round, producing oyster mushrooms, Lions Mane, Shiitakes and a variety of other species from three grow houses in Fairfield, New Jersey, just for you!
Buster Petronglo & Sons Farm (Vineland, NJ)
The Petronglo family has been vegetable farming in the North Vineland area formore than 100 years, successfully farming some of the same ground that Giuseppe Petronglo began farming in the early 1900s. The basic principals of hard work, family values, and good farming practices, teamed with good soil, ideal climate, and prime geographic location have paved the way for the farming family. The current generation proudly harvests items like Spinach, Cabbage, Kale, Eggplant, Sweet Corn, String Beans, and more on roughly 300 acres of fertile farmland!& Sons Farm