Food, Procurement and Waste

When it comes to embedding sustainability, we must look at it across all areas of operation including our food, procurement, and waste. There are many factors to consider when looking at our food choices, such as where our food has come from, how it is grown and what we can do to minimise waste. As a major local business, and as part of the wider national Higher Education sector, the University of Chester’s procurement decisions also consider the environmental, social and economic impact of activities through:

  • Design
  • Material selection
  • Manufacture
  • Transportation
  • Usage
  • Disposal options of the goods and services required

Food

Where possible, we use food suppliers with an ethical approach to food service, with reduced packaging and with box collection services.

  • Our fish is sourced from Marine Conservation Society accredited fish stocks. We are MSC certified, audited yearly, to ensure we are sourcing sustainably
  • Where possible, meat and dairy are from ethical sources
  • We are increasing the number of plant-based menu items
  • We work with local suppliers to help reduce our food miles and support local economies

The Catering Services department aims to fully involve the student community in our sustainability mission from their initial arrival at the University through cooking sessions, sustainable cooking practices and limiting food waste sessions run by our head chef during welcome week.

The University of Chester is a member of The University Caterers Organisation (TUCO) and has been for over 30 years. TUCO recognise that food and sundry commodity choices have the potential to influence a healthy lifestyle incorporating the 3 Ps: people, profit, and planet. Most of our food suppliers are appointed under the TUCO frameworks, with sustainability being embedded into all of their activities, including procurement and relevant documents. TUCO and its members meet regularly to discuss:

  • Sustainability initiatives 
  • Share best practice
  • Develop sustainable principles
  • Embed them into all aspects of TUCO's core values

The Garden 2 Table joint initiative between the Catering team and the Grounds and Gardens team helps to:

  • Reduce food waste
  • Raise awareness of food sustainability with students
  • Ensure students understand where their food comes from

The initiative makes full use of the University’s borders, orchards, greenhouses, and beehives to grow our own produce. As such, we’re able to offer seasonal menus in our catering outlets.

Our beehives produce honey which is served in our residential dining room. The flowers we grow around the campus have been specially selected to provide an attractive environment for pollinators.

The United Kingdom gets through 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups every year, resulting in the felling of 1 million trees, as well as using up 1.5 billion litres of water to make these cups.

Our Drop ‘n’ Swap cup scheme, launched in October 2020, has been one of our most successful and innovative projects to drastically reduce waste. Disposable coffee cups are no longer available to purchase from any of our catering outlets.

Customers simply pay a one-off £2 fee to join and pick up your eco food container or cup. Once you’ve finished with it, you return your reusable container or cup to any University catering outlet, which will also earn you points for some great rewards.

Our scheme has removed over 70,000 disposable paper cups from the waste stream to date, equating to 8.05 tons of CO2 and was a finalist in the 2022 Green Gown Awards.

Chester Zoo launched its campaign to make Chester the first Sustainable Palm Oil City in the World in October 2017.

The University of Chester was awarded Sustainable Palm Oil City champion status by Chester Zoo, as part of its campaign to create a demand for sustainable palm oil in August 2018. In March 2019 Chester Zoo announced that Chester had become the first Sustainable Palm Oil City in the world.

 Our Catering team worked with suppliers to review the ingredients list of all the food it buys for the University. Palm oil was a hidden ingredient in many products and external suppliers could not always trace its source when asked. It was very difficult to trace the source of palm oil in pre-packaged foods. Our Catering team worked closely with suppliers to ensure that every product containing palm oil sold across the University’s catering outlets comes from a sustainable source.

Our commitment to the palm oil project, and our champion status within that, have helped to raise the profile of sustainable palm oil in the higher education sector. The University of Chester’s Catering team was awarded the Sustainability Award at The University Caterers Organisation (TUCO) Awards 2019.

Chester was first granted Fairtrade status in January 2002. The University of Chester achieved its own Fairtrade status in 2007 and has maintained this for 12 years. As part of our Fairtrade University status, we continue to review Fairtrade products available at outlets across our sites. In December 2020, the University signed up to the Fairtrade Universities and Colleges award programme for 2020/22. The Fairtrade Steering Group is made up of both students and staff representing different departments, including Academic, Catering, Chaplaincy, Sustainability Team and Students’ Union. In July 2022, the University received the Fairtrade University Award. 

Achievements

  • Established a Fairtrade Steering Group that meets regularly and represents different Departments
  • Launched our Fairtrade Friday campaign
  • Collaborated on Fairtrade Fortnight events
  • Worked with a Work Based Learning student on a scoping activity

All food waste from catering outlets at Exton Park is recycled in the on-site Biotech Seed Food Digester, which uses enzymes to break down food and safely flush it away.  All other catering outlets across our sites recycle food in the food bins provided, so no food ends up in the general waste stream.

Catering Services have made improvements to their operations to help reduce the amount of food waste. This includes:

  • A student-led waste project which resulted in the introduction of smaller plates to decrease the amount of waste.
  • Menu changes.
  • Staff training and awareness around portion sizes and food waste.

The result of all of this hard work has seen a reduction in food waste at Exton Park of 47.13%.

Food is made to order to limit food waste and our ‘Too Good to Throw’ scheme means that any meals that are left at the end of service are available for students or staff to buy at a reduced cost to further reduce food waste across all sites.

Procurement

The University’s procurement policy aims to mitigate the effects that the University’s activities have on the environment, and to use our purchasing power to create positive impact. To achieve this, we will:

  • Support local skills and capabilities.
  • Reduce direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions across our sites and projects under our control.
  • Embed zero waste thinking in all aspects of our operations and supply chain.
  • Aim to procure products directly or through our supply chain from recognised responsible sources.
  • Audit the University’s spending in order to identify, and where possible, encourage best practice across our supply chains.
  • Encourage and persuade suppliers to operate better production processes, supply more environmentally friendly products and help spread improvements throughout the supply chain.
  • Provide guidance and training to encourage staff involved in purchasing to adopt more sustainable purchasing policies to reduce costs and the environmental impact of goods and services we buy.
  • Consider suppliers’ environmental performance and whole life costs. 

To ensure a more sustainable future and to embed positive social, economic and environmental impacts throughout the supply chain, we have invested in NETpositive’s Supplier Tool and ask our appointed suppliers to support our ambition by creating their own free bespoke sustainability action plans.

Recycling and Waste

Since 2019, our general waste, recyclable materials and food waste are collected and processed separately. We provide guidance to students and staff on how they can help to reduce waste and recycle more. It is important to avoid contamination of the recyclable material, which means no black bags or carrier bags are allowed in the recycling bins. Please also ensure bottles are emptied of liquids to avoid contaminating the recyclable waste. The poster below illustrates what can go in the recycling bins.

The Sustainability Team is responsible for the monitoring and measuring the University’s waste. Opportunities for reducing the amount of waste produced in the first instance are outlined in the Waste Management Strategy. For the last five years we have consistently achieved a zero waste to landfill target, with any residual waste that cannot be reused or recycled being used to produce energy.

The University aims to reduce the tonnage of waste produced and increase our recycling rates as detailed below:

  • 65% of all waste recycled by 2025
  • 75% of all waste recycled by 2030