UCLA Dining Services updated Bruin Plate with new water fixtures over summer to increase water efficiency, as part of a larger initiative to make the facility more sustainable.
Last summer, the Green Restaurant Association certified Bruin Plate as a sustainable restaurant, awarding the dining hall three out of four possible stars. UCLA officials submitted the dining hall for review as part of the University of California sustainability initiative.
The new water fixtures decrease water flow to less than one gallon per minute, but there were no significant changes to the facility, said Emma Sorrell, sustainability manager for UCLA Housing and Hospitality Services.
Sorrell added facility managers must find a balance between cost and the possibility of adding new facility features, to earn a higher green restaurant rating. Sorrell said the cost to add new water spouts to Bruin Plate was negligible.
The Green Restaurant Association is a national non-profit organization that certifies restaurants based on the overall sustainability of the food and its production, along with the efficiency of the building’s materials and infrastructure.
Officials submitted Bruin Plate for review in accordance with the UC Sustainability Policy, which states at least one UC dining facility on each UC campus must be certified sustainable, Sorrell said. The certification process for Bruin Plate took about one year.
About 30 percent of Bruin Plate’s food products come from sustainable sources, Sorrell said . In addition, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, certified the building for high-efficiency equipment, lighting and materials used to build the structure.
“(The certifications are) a third-party verification of things we’re already doing,” Sorrell said. “It’s providing another level of transparency.”
Rendezvous, the first UCLA dining facility to be certified a green restaurant, was awarded the certificate in 2012. UCLA hopes to certify Café 1919 next, but certification could take longer because officials must obtain older records that detail the history of the facility and the materials used to build it.
Café 1919 and other to-go restaurants are limited in sustainability quotas they can achieve because they cannot reuse dishware and utensils, Sorrell said. She added UCLA Dining Services plans to accommodate to-go restaurants with takeout containers made from compostable material and recycled paper products.
Compiled by Andrea Henthorn, Bruin reporter.