Food and Catering

Did you know that 2.5 billion disposable cups are used every year in the UK? What’s worse is that less than 1% of them are recycled!

With an inner plastic sleeve, disposable cups are difficult to recycle and are a commonly contaminated item in recycling waste streams.  Individual actions do make a difference. Please remember to always bring your reusable cup. If you don’t have your own cup, do not worry, there is a variety to choose from at each outlet!

Don’t forget to check around the café, you may come across a small small signposted tray with bags of coffee grounds. Coffee grounds make excellent fertiliser for gardens, so please do take a bag or two. You can add the grounds to a compost bin or directly into the soil, and they can even help to keep the slugs and snails away. It may not seem much, but hundreds of bags will be used over the year, so this saves on waste and helps you to go organic in the garden.

The University has water fountains installed around its campuses as well as free water stations in all catering outlets. Look at our campus maps for their location.

You can ‘grow your own’ at Avery Hill’s Edible Garden. Students and staff and welcome to volunteer and learn how to grow fruit and veg, make friends get some exercise and fresh air. Interested? –  Follow this link for more information.

Our Stockwell Street building also has large fruit and vegetable gardens that are tended to by students and staff and is part of our wider urban agriculture research. We are planning a edibles grow space at Medway too. Watch this space.

We have beehives at all campuses with Avery Hill campus produced honey for sale at the Village Shop.

Look out for our orchard planted through support by the Orchard Project. It’s located across from the Edible Garden (below the tennis courts). Visit from July when the apple and pear and other fruits begin ripening. If you are interested in learning how to prune orchard trees then get in touch.

As part of our Make Your Change Initiative you can make a positive difference through actions to reduce the carbon footprint associated with the university’s catering.

Not only is reducing meat consumption good for your health (study) is is also good in reducing your carbon footprint. Simply halving meat consumption to less than 50 grams a day, food-related emissions fall by a third, saving almost a tonne of CO₂ each year, equivalent to an economy return flight between London and New York.  Greenwich’s catering suppliers now provide a larger range of vegetarian and vegan options and partake in meat free days during Veganuary and Green Week.  So why not try a meat-free day and even that one portion will make a difference. Read more here.