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Corporate
Citizenship

Sustainability

At Sodexo, our mission is to "Improve the Quality of Daily Life." We embrace sustainability ideals to make sure we consider the environmental, social and economic implications of all our actions.

Our Pledge

At Sodexo, we pursue the use of:

  • Locally grown and sustainable food products.
  • Environmentally friendly food service products, such as plates, cups, utensils and cleaning supplies.
  • Biodegradable disposable products, such as plates and bowls produced from 100 percent post-industrial reclaimed fiber.
  • Suppliers who adhere to our Code of Conduct, which contains principles relating to child and forced labor, wages and benefits, working hours, health, safety and environmental guidelines.

Sustainability on Campus

Sodexo provides locally grown and sustainable food products to hundreds of college campuses in the U.S. We partner with 500 local farmers near these campuses to offer these locally grown foods.

This commitment is real. 98 cents of every dollar we spend on produce goes to contracted distributors who support local farms.

Read about featured colleges where Sodexo champions sustainability efforts.

Sustainability Partnerships

  • Food Alliance - Partners locally sustainable-certified farms to Sodexo campus, healthcare and corporate accounts.
  • The Sustainable Food Laboratory - Accelerates the process of moving locally grown product availability from niche to mainstream customers, including Sodexo's many customers.
  • United Natural Foods - Delivers certified organic products to campuses where Sodexo provides services.
  • "Farm to Fork" - Senator Hillary Clinton's program designed to make local farming in New York State a more competitive enterprise.
  • "Cartridges for Kids" and Easter Seals - Converts office supplies, such as old printer cartridges and mobile phones, into cash to provide technology and tools to farmers with debilitating injuries or conditions and to provide financial support for small farmers and ranchers.

Testimonies

  • "Emory University's goal of providing 75% local, organic, and sustainable food in our campus cafeterias by 2015 is a new step on our continuing journey of commitment to environmental stewardship, public health, and support of our local economy. In our partnership with Sodexo, we seek to be an early adopter of innovative programs to improve access to healthy and sustainable food choices. Through this important partnership, we hope to revolutionize the campus dining experience at Emory, model best practices for other universities and institutions, and promote a sustainable food economy for our entire community."

    Dr. James Wagner
    President
    Emory University

  • "Emory University's goal is to procure 75% of the ingredients in our cafeterias from local, organic, or sustainable sources by 2015. We are working closely with Sodexo to achieve our goal. With our purchasing power, Emory can help shape a market for local food-making it more available for everyone in our community."

    Ciannat Howett
    Director of Sustainability Initiatives
    Emory University

  • "I am appreciative of Sodexo for raising awareness of my Farm-to-Fork initiative that continues to promote New York food products. Our farms are one of our strongest resources and we need to take full advantage of their potential."

    Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY)

  • "Organic producers have developed new growing methods that remove harmful pesticides from our ecosystems as well as our food. Emory University is fortunate to be partnering with Sodexo to support the growing market in this area."

    Dr. Peggy Barlett
    Faculty Liaison to the Office of Sustainability Initiatives
    Emory University

  • "Emory University has a goal of diverting 65% of our waste stream from landfills to recycling by 2015. A large component of our current waste stream is food waste, so partnering with Sodexo to achieve this ambitious goal is critical to the success of our Sustainability Initiative. I have confidence that, together, we can implement innovative food waste diversion projects-such as food waste composting that we can use for campus landscaping.

    A great example of such a closed loop system that is already in place at Emory is our biodiesel program-- we're creating a biodiesel blend from used cooking oil in our cafeterias that runs our shuttle bus program and takes cars off Atlanta's crowded roads and produces fewer greenhouse gases than regular petroleum."

    Ciannat Howett
    Director of Sustainability Initiatives
    Emory University

  • "There is a dynamic, emerging partnership developing between Emory University, Sodexo and Georgia Organics to create the first comprehensive farm-to-institution model in the southeast. The potential benefits are enormous for both Emory and the broader community in fostering healthy eating and nutrition, sustainable food education for students, and viable economic opportunities for small family farms.

    This will require creative strategies and infrastructures, but the commitment is there from all parties to make this a success and hopefully a replicable model for other institutions to follow."

    Alice Rolls
    Executive Director
    Georgia Organics

  • "The pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers used in conventional farming have negative social, environmental, public health, and economic impacts. Emory's goal is to procure increasing levels of organic products to foster and build a robust organics market-particularly in our local area.

    Partnering with Sodexo, we hope to achieve a goal of 75% local, organic or sustainable ingredients in our cafeterias by 2015. This ambitious goal requires the commitment of everyone involved, and we are grateful for Sodexo's commitment to make this happen at Emory."

    Ciannat Howett
    Director of Sustainability Initiatives
    Emory University

  • "Sodexo's commitment to the University's sustainability goals shows a true partnership with the Emory Community. Sodexo is not only locally committed but globally committed to improve the world in which we live."

    Patty Ziegenhorn-Erbach
    Food Service Liaison
    Emory University

  • "Sustainability is not a fad or a phase we are in. It is our future – at the center of everything we do, whether it is conservation of natural resources, recycling, green buildings or sustainable food supplies. Our vision for the future must hold sustainability as a given."

    Bob Hascall
    Vice President, Campus Services
    Emory University

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