Sustainable Swaps for Stanford Athletes

Adopting sustainable practices in a fast-paced food service environment can oftentimes be tricky. However, former sports nutrition lead and registered dietitian Angela Trinh has found ways to operate the Fueling Station, a grab-and-go food hub for Stanford athletes, sustainably without sacrificing efficiency or quality.

The Fueling Station, which serves roughly 900 student-athletes over 36 teams nearly year-round, became a Santa Clara County Certified Green Business in November 2023 and continues to expand its sustainable practices. This effort includes partnering with student organizations like Student Athletes for Sustainability to reduce food and packaging waste during travel seasons and launching a campaign for compostable cups from Gatorade.

Angela launched a pilot program for athletic teams to switch from single-use bags to reusable ones for meals and snacks during travel. Angela was able to repurpose bags sourced from other departments, saving money and resources. She shares, “I am happy to report that I was able to receive 31 bags from Stanford Medicine and 75 bags from Stanford High School Summer College to help initiate the pilot. The program required much coordination within departments, as well as careful logistical planning for distribution, cleaning, ownership, and cost of the bags.”

Some of Angela’s other sustainable successes include:

• Facilitating the switch from single-use plastic sport drink bottles to a dispenser with reusable bottles — plus a washing and sanitizing service for the bottles for athletes on the go!
• Establishing “just-in-time” purchasing to avoid excess food waste
• Coordinating campus food donations – most notably, donating 36 cases of applesauce to FLI (First Generation and/or Low-Income) students