Northridge Magazine

Dave Nirenberg’s office in The University Corporation was a kaleidoscope of colors and textures. Piles of red, green and yellow lead-free Fiesta Ware crockery, manufactured by a “green values” company called Homer Laughlin, were stacked on a bookcase.

“The new dishes for Geronimo’s, the food service facility at the Satellite Student Union,” explained Nirenberg, then director of commercial services for The University Corporation, a non-profit auxiliary corporation providing commercial and administrative services to Cal State Northridge.

Stacked beside the array of bowls, cups and plates was an assortment of food containers. “In fall 2009,” Nirenberg explained, “all campus food services will be going Styrofoam-free and we’re still trying to find the right replacement.” As a member of the Cal State Northridge Sustainability Institute’s core greening team, he was committed to exploring paper bamboo and corn-based alternatives which are kinder to the environment.

He grabbed several samples. Some were made of recycled fiber, others of bamboo and even of corn, making them not only a better choice for the environment but ensuring their eventual decomposition. Nirenberg is clearly a passionate advocate for sustainability but knows it has to make economic sense.

“Part of sustainability,” he said, “is staying in business. We have to make sure that in choosing a replacement for Styrofoam, we still provide practicality and choose a container that closes firmly and doesn’t leak.”

An amateur beekeeper and a keen gardener, Nirenberg feels a special affinity for food that goes beyond its commercial function. In his six years with The University Corporation, numerous steps were taken to diminish its carbon footprint while increasing the number of its campus venues.

“Starting with the number of vendors, which we were able to reduce from 110 to about 35, we then moved on to recycling our old fryer oils which are made into fuel by a biodiesel conversion plant. The one to two tons of tin cans we use each year are also recycled.”

Coffee grounds from The University Corporation’s four Freudian Sip Coffee Houses are worked into the campus flower beds by gardeners from the Department of Physical Plant Management, benefiting roses and other acid-loving plants.

In fall 2009, the Freudian Sip will begin selling two Bisphenol A-free beverage containers, one for hot beverages, the other for cold with a concurrent discount program. (The subject of some controversy in the media, Bisphenol A (BPA) is an organic compound considered a building block of some plastics.)

Freudian Sip customers already receive a ten cent discount for bringing in their own cups, but in the fall, the discount will be raised to 15 cents and a purchase of a hot container will come with some free cups of coffee.

The Corporation also has been instrumental in introducing a line of “Organic To Go” sandwiches and salads as well as organic fruit whose cost is not prohibitive. At least 60 percent of the coffee brewed in the Freudian Sip coffeehouses is either organic and/or fair trade.

— Julia Venkateswaran

---

---