Hospitality and catering

Sustainability is at the core of our catering outlet operations. A new Sustainable and Ethical Food Plan has been developed, setting out our Catering Teams' commitment to sustainability and plan for future action.

Key successes

To reduce our impact on the environment, the following measures have been taken:

All nine of our catering units offer plant-based alternatives for main meals, soups, grab-and-go food, plus drinks.
We have introduced a 10p cup charge for disposable coffee cups bought in our catering outlets, diverting over 100,000 cups from waste. The funds from the charge are ring-fenced for investment in sustainability initiatives.
We sell reusable coffee cups and lunch boxes across all our catering outlets and give customers a 15p discount when using a reusable cup.
We have transitioned to compostable or recyclable packaging in all our outlets. The Hideout coffee shop on Stag Hill campus is now plastic free front of house.
We have introduced 11 new water refill points on campus to reduce single-use plastic and encourage the transition to reusable water bottles. We have also introduced canned water options across catering outlets to help eliminate single use plastics.
We have eliminated single use straws and plastic bags from the Students' Union’s nightclub.
We have set up a Community Fridge with the Students' Union to minimise food waste, donating all pre-packaged goods to the University community.

Growing food on campus

Two community gardens on our Stag Hill and Manor Park campuses provide space for staff and students to grow food on campus. The gardens are managed by the University of Surrey Garden Society and Vet Society with support from the Horticulture & Landscape team. Staff and students have also set up beehives on campus, providing an opportunity to produce local honey whilst providing a habitat for bees.

In July 2019, Lakeside Restaurant and Coffee Shop created a garden on their premises, where food and vegetables are being grown to be used on their menu.

Sustainable Procurement & Sourcing

Sustainability needs to be embedded across the supply chain, influencing how we procure goods and services, the types of goods and services we procure, and how we manage their lifecycle. The Sustainability and Procurement teams have been measuring their progress in sustainable procurement using the government’s Flexible Framework. The University has expanded the Flexible Framework from five to ten stages in order to clarify actions and expedite delivery. So far the sustainability and procurement teams have completed a number of actions including, crucially, the creation of a sustainable procurement plan, the selection and delivery of training in sustainable procurement, and the advanced filtering and classification of suppliers.

The University’s Purchasing Policy (PDF) states our commitment to ensuring sustainability, modern slavery, socially responsible procurement issues and equality/diversity factors are considered in purchasing decisions. Sustainable procurement principles for tendering processes with external partners are incorporated in the policy, including those related to food purchasing.

In order to provide access to local food on campus, we organise a farmers' market every Thursday. The market features various produce and street food from local producers.