This article includes information about what the catering services are doing to help the environment.

Catering services are very keen to help the environment in everything we do, from our eco-friendly packaging, to our recycling schemes.

What are we doing to help?

MUG for LIFE

• Staff will receive a 15 pence reduction on the price of a cup of fairtrade 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!

• 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 collected 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.

Recycling

• We are recycling the waste cooking oil from our kitchens by converting it into biodiesel to fuel our 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.
• Where possible, all paper used in Catering Services and Campus Services is 100% recycled.

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. In almost all of our campus catering outlets, there is fairtrade coffee, tea, sugar, chocolate, fruit, biscuits and snacks. Where it is not possible to provide these fairtrade products, there is a commitment to start using them in the future. We are also constantly looking for new Fairtrade ideas and products to use in our cafes. Should you have any of your own ideas, please visit www.fairtrade.org.uk where you can share your ideas.
• The Catering Department is constantly striving to improve its level of support for the Fairtrade concept. 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.
• By stocking and selling One Water, we hope to be making a difference. All the profits accumulated from 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.