Our Progress To-date
The objective of this strand of activity is to minimise the impact of our procurement practices on the environment.
Work to date on this strand has included a wide range of actions to improve procurement practices and review existing contracts to ensure they are aligned to our environmental goals.
Activity has included:
- Reducing the amount of recyclable material used by all areas of the college and ensuring suppliers provide recyclable materials where possible. This includes the introduction of environmentally friendly cleaning products
- Catering across our estate is provided by our commercial facilities known as Stir, the Stir team are working hard to adopt practices to ensure a positive impact on the environment, society and provide sustainable catering. Here’s some examples of our good practices that we currently carry out to support our environment:
- Use of seasonal and local produce to reduce carbon footprint across our supply chain
- We have introduced biodegradable packaging to all our sites. Including cutlery and serviettes. This also includes our Starbucks cups and customers are encouraged by virtue of a discount scheme to purchase a multiple use cup which is re-fillable
- We limit the amount of beef we cook
- We minimise our food waste by giving fruit and vegetables to our animal science team or to staff to give to their animals
- Any products with short shelf life we give to a local charity (Dudley Food bank)
- Our cooking oil is returned to the supplier to be recycled for fuel
- We donate left-over food items to support food poverty on-campus.
- We have implemented a sustainable IT policy for off-site storage of data and equipment and have a recycling scheme in place with a national charity, who restore and repurposes IT equipment.
Our future actions
Further work is intended in the following areas:
- We are determining a supplier approval criterion, and developing a full approval process which is bult around sustainability objectives, alongside consideration of Social Value and compliance with Modern Slavery Act.
- We are actively negotiating with our suppliers for sustainable food options. to extend our vegan food offer by 2024.
- We plan to grow more of our own produce through the work of our Aspire teams – who develop horticultural skills as part of their curriculum.
