Sustainable choices from Essex Food

Ever thought that you’re doing your bit for the planet when you eat on campus? Over the last few years Essex Food have worked hard to make changes that help reduce the environmental impact of your meals, from deliveries and packaging to equipment and ingredients, and there is more on the way.

Less plastic, less waste

• Single use plastics have been removed from our outlets in favour of recyclable, biodegradable and compostable alternatives, wherever possible.
• We now stock canned water instead of bottles. Recycled cans are turned back into new cans, so they’re infinitely recyclable. While you can recycle a plastic bottle, it won’t live its life as a bottle again.

Cooking as efficiently as possible

• The fryers in Buffalo Joe’s were recently upgraded to more modern, efficient models. They use 41% less gas per fryer, and have two stage filtration built in, which increases oil longevity while maintaining quality – so you still get excellent fries.
• The cookers in Canteen have been upgraded too. Working with the Estates team the electrics were upgraded and now both ovens are electric. These new ovens are far more efficient and have preset programmes that can consume up to 70% less energy than our previous model, which is a huge improvement.
• Food is cooked to order at most of our outlets, reducing food waste, and all the cooking oil we use is collected for recycling into biofuel.
• We work with expert suppliers for our catering equipment, who help us to find the best options for us and support our drive for efficiency.

Ethically sourced and environmentally conscious

• Wherever possible, food and ingredients are sourced locally, and meat is only purchased from suppliers with high welfare certifications.
• All of the eggs we use are from free range farms.
• Our menus are reviewed regularly, and there’s now 30% vegan and vegetarian choices across our outlets. This year we’re doing more to boost that choice, and we’re working on bring this up to 50% over the next few years.

Smarter procurement

For a few years now, we’ve been working with a company called Pelican, which helps to make our catering procurement more efficient. Orders can be managed in one place while still working with a variety of quality suppliers, and we set the ethical and environmental expectations that we want from them.

This service provides a range of functionality that helps us to reduce our impact in many ways. For example, it’s allowed us to consolidate deliveries to just 3 days per week, which will save an estimated 20 tonnes in carbon emissions from trucks not being on the road annually. It’s also got features like estimating the carbon impact of our menus – so we will soon be able to display this, helping us to adapt our dishes, and helping you to make informed meal choices.