Tip of the Week: Eco-friendly Picnic

One of the nicest things about summer is enjoying the outdoors, and alfresco dining.

You can keep your picnic green:

• Consider purchasing a re-useable picnic basket.
  
• Purchase local food to save on greenhouse gas emissions produced by transporting food - look for local farmer's markets.
  
• Bike, walk, or take public transportation to your picnic site, if possible.
  
• Take along a cloth table or ground cover and cloth napkins, real utensils, and re-useable plates, cups and food containers. There are also biodegradable - compostable plates, cups, cutlery & napkins.
  
• Add names or color coding to reuseable, refillable drink containers.
  
• Remember to take away any garbage and recyclables when you leave.
  
  
  
  Chartwells Goes Green:

Grass-Fed Beef - raised on a local farm in Troy, New York

• Good for the Animals - animals live low stress, healthier lives
• Good for the Farmers - helps maintain small family farms
• Good for the Planet - less air, land and water pollution
• Good for YOU - raised without hormones, antibiotics or other drugs; the meat contains less fat, cholesterol & calories and has more vitamin E, C, beta-carotene and omega fatty acids.
• Look for the "NEW!" sticker when local, grass-fed beef is being served in your dining room.
  

100% Biodegradable Plastic Bags

• Now in use in all food outlets in the Campus Center
  

Starbucks Coffee

• Fair Trade Coffee - Starbucks is the largest purchaser, roaster and distributor of Fair Trade Certified coffee in North America.
• Environmentally responsible - Have launched an emissions reduction strategy including the purchase of renewable energy certificates, energy conservation, and advocating collaborative action.
• Paper cups - Their cups contain 10 percent post-consumer recycled fiber and will save an estimated 78,000 trees and reduce about 3 million pounds of solid waste each year.
  

Green Mountain Coffee

• Fair Trade Coffee - Fair Trade insures that the farmer receives a fair price for his crop and that you receive the finest quality product.
• Cold cups are made of naturally-based materials (natural corn starches) and are fully compostable (under ideal conditions the cup will fully break down in 50 days). Use of this cup will take more than 80,000 pounds of petrochemicals out of the supply chain and waste stream each year.
  

Farmer's Markets On Campus

• Watch for more information on upcoming Farmer's Markets and your opportunities to buy farm fresh products again this year!
  

Local Produce

• Chartwells purchases more than $300,000 worth of local produce. Local farms that supply Chartwells with produce and other products are Fox Creek, Woodview, Sugarbush, Longfield, Two Sap Syrups, Sap Bush Hollow and Barber Farms.
  

All Shell Eggs Are Organic and HFAC Certified Cage-Free

• Used in all dining locations on campus.
  

Antibiotic-Free Chicken and Anitbiotic-Free Meat

• Chartwells will no longer purchase chicken or meat "in which antibiotics that belong to classes of compounds approved for use in human medicine have been used for growth promotion purposes".
  

Sustainable Seafood in Dining Locations

• Chartwells has partnered with the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program to assure that all seafood served complies with strict sustainability requirements. Many species have been over-fished, and Chartwells no longer serves any of the threatened species.
  

Trans-Fats

• All oils used in our kitchens have been transitioned to Zero Trans-Fat oils.
• Also, Chartwells uses & provides only spreads with zero grams of trans fat per serving and will not use products containing saturated fats when unsaturated fats are available.
• Chartwells is working with local bakers to ensure that they have trans fat free products from them also.
  

The University Bookstore Goes Green:

The UAlbany Bookstore carries a variety of environmentally friendly products. The Bookstore has tried to make it easy to identify these products by using green signage and labels.

Used Textbooks

• The bookstore's largest recycling program revolves around used textbooks
• They buy back textbooks from students and resell them the next semester for 25% less than the cost of new textbooks
• Buying and selling used textbooks helps to cut down on the production of textbooks (saving paper and ink) and lessens the carbon footprint because textbooks do not need to be shipped into or out of the store.

Edun Live

• Another huge program is Edun Live, which produces t-shirts form 100% African cotton and yarn
• Each purchase helps support trade and employment opportunities in impoverished regions of sub-Saharan Africa
• Edun Live works to ensure that everyone involved in the making of the t-shirts (from the farmer to the factory worker) is fairily compensated and works in a humane, ethical, and respectful environment

Environmentally Friendly Products

The Bookstore also carries organic food, environment friendly household cleaning products, recycled greeting cards, recycled or biodegradable school supplies, organic and other natural beauty products, as well as a large Go Green general reading section. The number of items available is growing daily, as they continue to expand their green product selection.