Carnegie Mellon University
Student Affairs  ›  Dining Services  ›  Sustainability

We're going green.

Dining Services makes it a priority to implement programs and practices that align with the UN's Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) and the university's collective commitment and efforts towards a more sustainable future. Learn how dining on campus provides you with choices that minimize your environmental impact.

What Is Scotty SIPS? 
Scotty SIPS is a reusable cup program to reduce single-use packaging waste on campus. To advance the university’s sustainability goals, Scotty SIPS was initiated by Carnegie Mellon University student SEED Leaders in partnership with CMU Dining Services. 

How It Works
CMU students, faculty, staff, affiliates, and guests can bring a clean, reusable cup to any participating dining location and receive a $0.25 discount when purchasing an eligible beverage.

Participating locations:

  • La Prima 
  • De Fer Coffee and Tea 
  • RedHawk Coffee 
  • Millie’s Coffee ‘N’ Creamery 
  • Entropy
  • Scotty’s Market

Reusable cups must be:

  • In good condition, sanitized and clean. Dining staff cannot wash, rinse, or wipe down the reusable container. The associate will pour your coffee into a disposable cup if your mug is dirty or damaged.

  • Appropriately sized to the beverage that is ordered. The associate will pour the quantity of the beverage paid, regardless of the size of the reusable cup. For example, if the patron orders an 8 oz. coffee and presents a 12 oz. mug, the associate will pour 8 oz into the cup. 

Dining establishments have the right to refuse any reusable container that does not fit this criteria.

Many dining locations around campus serve organic products and hormone-free meat. By choosing to eat organic and hormone-free foods, you are helping fewer pesticides and chemicals enter the environment. 

  • Chartwells is committed to purchasing 20 percent of their products locally. All milk is purchased locally.
  • All of the chicken served at Chartwells locations is hormone and antibiotic free. 
  • Chartwells only offers fresh fluid milk and fresh yogurt from cows that have been certified to be free of the artificial growth hormones rBGH/rBST. 
  • All Chartwells locations serve only Humane Farm Animal Care (HFAC) certified cage-free shell eggs nationwide.
  • Chartwells is committed to protecting the threatened global fish supply. In collaboration with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program, Chartwells established a landmark purchasing policy in 2006 that removes unsustainable wild and farmed seafood from its menus.
  • Responsible coffee production methods are certified in a variety of ways at Chartwells locations, including fair trade, Rainforest Alliance, Shade Grown, Bird Friendly, Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices, UTZ and organic.
  • In partnership with Dining Services, Chartwells is committed to offering compostable packing and cutlery in catering operations.
In 2006, the Carnegie Mellon Café located in Resnik House received a Gold LEED Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The café was renovated with sustainable materials and improvements were made to make the space more energy efficient. This renovation is just one step in our vision for a greener dining program.
You can also do your part to decrease our environmental impact. Use the recycling bins provided at our dining locations. Only purchase food that you think you will eat to reduce food waste. Most of our dining locations use a trayless dining program, which has been found to reduce food waste on some college campuses by up to 50%. Take advantage of the organic and fair trade options at many of our dining locations to show our vendors that you support these steps towards sustainability. Together we can make Carnegie Mellon a greener campus.

Key Terms

Sustainable Living - helping the environment by making choices to reduce your consumption of harmful products

Fair Trade - goods that are bought at a fair price to help increase the standard of living for workers

Organic Food - food grown with restricted use of conventional pesticides

Compost - a mixture of various decaying organic substances, such as food scraps or leaves, used for fertilizing soil

412 Food Rescue

Our local partnership with 412 Food Rescue reduces food waste on campus and fights hunger in the community.

412 Food Rescue is an organization that uses technology to recover and directly distribute food to community organizations serving people who are food insecure. Founded in 2015 by CMU alum Leah Lizarondo, 412 Food Rescue and its network of over 10,000 volunteers have rescued over 10 million pounds of food from entering landfills, simultaneously reducing food waste and combating hunger.

Learn more

CMU donates food to 412 Food Rescue. In 2019 that impact resulted in: 291 unique pickups, 26,178 pounds rescued, 21,840 meals provided, 14,231 pounds of carbon sequestered. That is equivalent to $911 of annual waste management savings, greenhouse gas emissions from 16,017 miles driven by the average passenger vehicle, 107 tree seedlings grown over 10 years to sequester carbon and CO2 emissions from 823,226 smartphones charged.