Chick-Fil-A Bowl has committed to sustainability in a very unique way. They convened their 2nd Annual Sustainability Summit. Over 75 attendees representing 30 plus universities gathered for a two day event in downtown Atlanta. Covering issues such as sustainability best practices, recycling, water conservation, composting and a variety of other topics, the summit brought not only learning opportunities but also lots of shared knowledge. To read in order read from top to bottom.

  • RT @wewantchickfila: chickfilabowl: Our participating teams are incredible partners in sustainability! #CFABGreen http://bit.ly/Mu46rX
  • A: By taking trays away in dining halls campuses on average are seeing 20% reduction in waste
  • A: Right sizing the proportions is another way to eliminate food waste
  • A: Other solutions involve recycling education
  • A: need to take back tap...providing options to fans and allowing to fans bring in empty water bottles #FSU
  • A: Bottled Water is one of the largest money makers and becomes a huge issue. They make huge margins
  • ? What about eliminating plastic water bottles
  • @wewantachickfila asks football teams to do public announcements to support #recycling at large events #CFABGreen
  • A lot of the corporations have the sustainability goals as GWCC and Dome, by creating dialog with corps they have become very supportive
  • In the end sustainability efforts are all about efficiencies and that creates long term financial #Sustainability
  • To reach the Zero Waste Zone food court goals will be looking at front and back and food packaging
  • On average #GWCC and Dome recycle about 20% on month to month basis
  • #GA Dome recycled their turf. Got remade into playground turf. #cool
  • GWCC and Dome also recycle fryer grease and has two cardboard box bailers
  • Biggest challenges for both composting and recycling bins is contaminants >> my two cents lazy guests not paying attention. #recycle
  • What that means is contaminants don't end up in compost bins.
  • The food service program has started competitions for the non-profits running the boxes to make the cleanest compost waste...
  • Actually looked at using different cuts of beef to reduce waste
  • 85% of the disposables at the #GA Dome are now #compostable #CFABGreen #cool
  • Reduced enormous amount trash coming from the boxes. #CFABGreen
  • Source reduction is key component just like #EPA said. First test was eliminating disposables from suites and replacing w/ china #CFABGreen
  • He is presenting on the Zero Waste Zone for Georgia Dome food court #CFABGreen
  • Now listening to Tim Trefzer, recent guest on Speaking of Green, from Georgia World Congress Center. #CFABGreen
  • Almost every county has a solid waste manager and can be a very good connection
  • Food packaging creates a ton of waste. It can account for 50% of front of the house waste #CFABGreen
  • If you are dealing with large vendor they actually tracking and eliminating waste. So in that situations it's the fans creating most waste
  • Moving food waste can be large logistical challenge at stadiums #CFABGreen
  • The most important factor is to make sure no food goes to waste. #CFABGreen
  • Contamination of compost is a huge challenge and constant education of vendors and haulers is necessary #CFABGreen
  • Solutions: have waste hauler do an audit of the stadium, educate vendors, educate fans on post consumer #CFABGreen
  • A: existing contracts, creating composting
  • ? What is the biggest barrier for stadiums vs campus food service
  • The food donation act has been in place for 20 years and has never been challenged in court #CFABGreen
  • When working with Food Bank you need to find out what they accept and not accept #CFABGreen
  • However sometimes it can add cost
  • Tipping fees are helping drive some of the university programs. #CFABGreen
  • #CFABGreen has doubled the number of participants and will grow even larger
  • #EPA has the wastewise program that you can use to help manage your campus program
  • You need to do a waste audit for your campus #CFABGreen
  • #UGA has done a great job of creating a composting program
  • Now talking about #composting - Mary Beth just gave daily excrement poundage for cows and pigs #yuck
  • #rockandwrapitup is a website that can help locate places for food donations (can do better listing orgs in the south) #CFABGreen
  • Finding students who are passionate about #Sustainability is a great way to build the movement on campus #CFABGreen
  • #Sustainability is good pr value for your campus #CFABGreen
  • When #EPA talks about organics here includes plant based plastic and compostable products. This is not about USDA certified organic foods
  • Currently only 4% is currently is donated or composted. Lots of work today
  • 26 to 30% of left over food can be donated or composted
  • Food donation is a three legged stool need to discuss source reduction and composting too
  • Mary Beth Van Pelt #EPA is now discussing sustainable food practices and food donation
  • Next session is on the sustainable procurement for your stadium #CFABGreen
  • You can follow all the tweets from the conference at #CFABGreen
  • #GeorgiaTech deployed student. Volunteers to hand out recycling bags to tailgaters to encourage recycling. Fans & Alum loved it
  • #EPA is doing work with the #Georgia Force and Gwen Keyes Flemming will coach for the day and promote recycling
  • A: Mascots are another great way to message
  • A: #FSU used a kicker for recycle mania and #UF uses coaches
  • A: There are compliance issues but you can go through the compliance office and they will approve
  • ? Have super stars on the playing fields helped message campus sustainability
  • A: Yes we do.
  • ? Are you tracking financial savings
  • A: Yes, we are using soil amendments to help
  • ? Soil amendment to help drought resistance
  • The coliseum is being renovated and they are recycling the materials and adding an 80,000 gallon cistern
  • The new practice field has a 280,000 cistern underneath it
  • At the turn of the century several streams were buried. During the drought. #GeorgiaTech uncovered the streams and have used it on campus
  • #GeorgiaTech is building new research building that will be carbon neutral
  • #GeorgiaTech had to get special permission during the drought to save 80 100 year old #trees
  • Eliminating 30% of stormwater run-off
  • #GeorgiaTech has a 1.4 million gallon cistern - provides 28 days of usage without rain
  • Rated as a top 10 Tree City Campus program
  • #GeorgiaTech is also increasing tree canopy. Planted over 1,000 #trees and have reduced stormwater run-off
  • #GeorgiaTech is converting their commons to an #eco commons. They have reduced hard surfaces and made them permeable
  • The former Olympic Village is now the largest #LEED certified dormitory in the world...1 million sq ft. 15% energy reduction and 30% water
  • Fraternities are now volunteering to go for #LEED certification for frat houses
  • #GeorgiaTech has 9 #LEED buildings
  • During the drought #GeorgiaTech moved to adopt #CA water conservation standards
  • Since 2001 #GeorgiaTech has reduced #water usage by 30%
  • #GeorgiaTech also moved ice makers from water controlled to air flowed ice #interesting
  • #GeorgiaTech also uses cisterns on campus to manage water.
  • All the #water equipment on the campus are low flow...yep...entire #GeorgiaTech campus
  • The focus for this talk is water conservation
  • #GeorgiaTech is using an integrated approach to sustainability
  • So documenting achievements is natural for #GeorgiaTech
  • #GeorgiaTech is one of the top 5 engineering universities in the world
  • Now listening to #GeorgiaTech talk about their achievements
  • A: #EnergyStar will work with universities to create them
  • One challenge for universities is that many buildings don't fit into current offerings on the website
  • A: Surprised this is an issue still. There is info on #EnergyStar website
  • ? How do you overcome resistance to turn off equipment because they think it damage equipment
  • Nationally universities and colleges spend $2 billion a year on #energy
  • The first two years of the college building competition has produced two winners in the Southeast. #whosgreen
  • #EnergyStar will customize webinars for different market segments and can do it for stadium and college sustainability directors
  • You can actually benchmark your own home
  • #EnergyStar has free benchmarking tools available to help manage your usage. Go to the energystar website
  • One thing missing when talking about green games is the transportation concerns
  • Some stadiums are always using LED lighting
  • Key to the start of the process is knowing your power bill and what all those numbers mean
  • By working in teams big things can be accomplished
  • #EPA has several competitions for #universities including stadiums and battle of the buildings. Minimum reduction was 10% some as high 30%
  • EnergyStar has reduced overall consumption of 12 million metric tons of carbon from the atmosphere since inception
  • Now talking #EnergyStar and football
  • Get ready for the tweets. We are talking #green #football games. Can't think of a better topic for me.
  • Here for the Chick-A-Bowl Sustainability Summit for University's (@ Omni Hotel -Atlanta CNN Tower) http://4sq.com/MgOV7H