Certified Green Restaurant
Teraanga Commons Dining Hall is a 4 Star Certified Green Restaurant!
Carleton is the second Canadian university to have a restaurant certified by The Green Restaurant Association. Since 1990, The Green Restaurant Association (GRA) has accredited thousands of restaurants for their environmentally-conscious operations, using transparent, science-based certification standards. The GRA’s Certification aims to provide technical guidance to dining establishments who want to assess and advance the sustainability of their operations by creating standards that provide multiple routes for minimizing a restaurant’s impact on the environment. These standards make it possible for restaurants to continually improve their operations as opportunities for retrofits and new equipment arise.
The Certification has eight major areas of focus. These are listed below, alongside the Dining Hall’s score for each category:
- Energy: 66.94 points
- Water: 25.90 points
- Waste: 72.25 points
- Reusables & Disposables: 28.75 points
- Chemicals & Pollution: 13.00 points
- Food: 47.00 points
- Building & Furnishing: 50.96 points
- Education & Transparency: 0.50 points
Teraanga Commons Dining Hall earned significant points as a result of its Zero-Waste status. Zero-Waste in our Dining Hall is made possible through reusable dishware, composting, and staff training. Extensive vegan and vegetarian offerings on the Dining Hall’s menu translated into considerable points within the ‘Food’ category.
In addition to these seven areas of focus, Teraanga Commons Dining Hall earned additional points for engaging in transparency and education efforts relating to our sustainable operations. The Dining Hall’s Certified Green Restaurant status is an ongoing process. As Carleton Dining advances its culinary and facility operations, we are continually reviewing the GRA standards for opportunities to minimize our environmental impact.