Catering Services
Environmental catering
What are we doing to help?
MUG for LIFE
Staff will receive a 15 pence reduction on the price of a cup of fair-trade tea, coffee or hot chocolate when they use their 'mug for life' or their own cup, at one of the University's catering outlets. The scheme hopes to encourage staff to be ‘recycle conscious’ and help to reduce the 116,000 plastic or paper cups used by the University each year.
Coffee Grounds to grow!
This year, world production of coffee is estimated to reach 7,658,780 tons of coffee beans. That's a lot of coffee - and a whole lot of waste coffee grounds!
Therefore, The Catering Department has teamed up with English Landscape to produce a waste coffee grounds scheme for the environment. This means that our coffee grounds will be collect each week and used as part of the compost programme which will then see the mixed grounds returned to the University garden areas as compost.
It is recycling the waste cooking oil from its kitchens by converting it into bio-diesel to fuel its catering vehicles.
Over 260 litres of vegetable oil is collected each week from university refectories and halls of residence by Hampshire-based organisation, Yately’s Industries. This is converted into biodiesel and returned to the University.
The converted cooking oil is saving the university 20 pence per litre, a potential saving of up to £200 per month. Further savings are made because the University no longer pays the £1 per drum to have the waste oil taken away.
The biodiesel costs 15 pence per litre to produce to which the government adds 30 pence per litre fuel tax. Profits for Yately's Industries all go to a good cause because the company is a charity set up to help people with disabilities learn skills and become employable.
The University’s catering manager, Nick Leach, said: “It’s a win-win situation for everyone. We save money while the charity makes a profit and has another outlet for training people.”
Nick is head of the steering group for the Southern Universities Purchasing Consortium and has encouraged other universities in the south to adopt the scheme.
To convert vegetable oil into biodiesel it is first warmed to 65 degrees celsius and allowed to settle. Chemicals are added to stabilize it but it contains less additives than standard diesel so is considered greener.
Biodiesel is available to buy directly from Yately’s Industries. For more information contact Sandra McLarry on 01252 872337
Carbon footprint
As part of the Defra-funded Rural Pathfinder Project, the Public Sector Procurement of Local food Project aims to increase the number of local farmers and producers supplying the public sector, and thereby encourage diversity and business growth locally to the University. The Catering department is also working with local suppliers to consolidate orders and to reduce transport and delivery frequentness which will reduce carbon emissions.
Support Fairtrade
The University has been a Fairtrade University since 2005. It makes available for sale in all campus catering outlets were possible coffee, tea, sugar, chocolate, fruit, biscuits and snacks. Where it is not possible, there is a commitment to begin to use Fairtrade foods in these establishments as soon as it becomes possible to do so. We are also constantly looking for new Fairtrade ideas and products to use. www.fairtrade.org.uk
The Catering Department is constantly striving to improve its level of support for the Fairtrade concept. This year all catering staff have been issued with new t-shirts as part of their uniform. These t-shirts are made of Fairtrade cotton.
One Water
"When you drink one Africa drinks too" The University supports One Water.
One billion people in the world don’t have access to clean water. By stocking and selling One Water we hope to be making a difference. All the profits from the buying one water go to building unique roundabout powered playPumps™ in Africa. As the kids play, clean water is pumped out of the ground into storage tanks for use by the community. Imagine if you had to walk for 5 hours to collect drinking water each day. Carrying a 30kg container. With no shelter from the sun. This is the reality for millions of woman and children in Africa. With a supply of fresh, clean water these children can go to school instead of collecting water. Their parents can take care of their crops. www.onewater.org.uk
Recycle it
Where possible all paper used in Catering Services and Campus Services is 100% recycled.