Sustainable catering at LSE

Aim: Actively promote the uptake of vegetarian and vegan options

• We have introduced carbon impact labels on the menus in our catering outlets and catered halls of residence. Carbon impact labels help to raise awareness of the carbon impact of different food types and encourage positive choices. Our labels are based on data from the World Resources Institute. Find out more about the Carbon impact labels [PDF]. From August 2022 to July 2023 the hot food sales were 54.5% Low carbon rated (Plant based and Fish), 42.5% Medium (Chicken, Dairy and Pork), 3% High (Beef, Lamb). 
• To encourage the uptake of plant-based dishes, we offer buy 9 get 1 free to LSE Food Club members. 
• We offer vegetarian and vegan alternatives in all of our catering outlets and actively promote the value in both sustainability and health of a vegetarian diet. We actively support Vegetarian Week and run healthy eating campaigns throughout the academic year. The LSE is listed as one of their "most vegan-friendly" universities in the UK by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). 
• In academic year 2018/19 the proportion of meat dishes served by LSE Catering reduced by almost half from 65% to 37% and at the same time vegetarian and vegan dishes increased from 14% to 45% (6,916 to 61,147). Vegan and vegetarian dishes are placed first on our service counters in all main campus and halls restaurant to help nudge our customer behaviour. We highlight to customers the plant-based hospitality menu items and ask them to consider the environment when making their food choices.
• We work with LSE student groups to support research into studies on behaviour change in dietary choices and implement strategies to promote the uptake of plant based meals from these studies.
• We strive to increase healthy and vegetarian options year on year. We hold regular awareness campaigns to promote a vegetarian lifestyle for environmental and health considerations. We look into new plant based food options and monitor new products to widen menu appeal to our students.
• We offer daily vegan and vegetarian menu choices at all the main restaurants on main campus and in the four catered halls. 
• We opened the Shaw Café in November 2018 which serves vegan and some vegetarian foods, plant based milks and homemade salads. The Shaw Café was awarded the Bronze Food for Life award in 2020 and reacredited in 2022, and again in 2024.

Aim: Provide healthy, sustainable, and ethical food to our customers

Fruit and vegetable

• We engage with suppliers to ensure that where seasonal produce is available from the local area, that is our preferred choice. One vegetable supplier is based in New Spitalfields Market and their aim when possible is to buy locally grown and UK produce. We work with a Kent based supplier who sources local produce from farms in his area. Visits to farms have been arranged by our suppliers to provide us with an opportunity to meet the famers and see how our food is being produced. Including seeing where our strawberries are grown for Graduations, and in 2024 a visit to Grow Up Vertical Farm.

• Menus in our restaurants are changed on a daily basis so that we can offer seasonable produce where possible.

• We ensure hospitality dinner menus have seasonable produce as a matter of course.

• We encourage healthy eating in all LSE Catering restaurants by providing salad bars with daily freshly prepared ingredients.

• We provide a selection of fresh fruit in all Catering units. Seasonal fruit will be stocked in preference to out of season fruit.

Fish

• We are signatories to support Sustain's Sustainable Fish City (SFC) - a campaign working to transform the way our oceans are fished by buying sustainable fish www.sustainweb.org/sustainablefishcity/london. We only use and promote fish that are rated "1, 2 or 3" on the Marine Conservation Society's (MCS) Good Fish Guide. We will act promptly to remove any fish that are added to the list due to a change in the sustainability of the item.

• We will monitor our suppliers to ensure they are certified Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) approved and where possible we will use MSC certified fish.

• We will not use tinned tuna where the tuna has been caught using purse seine nets with Fish Aggregation Devices (FADS). From 2010 our preference for tinned tuna has been pole and line caught or MSC certified. 

Meat and dairy

• We are committed to ensuring we will increase higher welfare meat and dairy, where possible using Red Tractor Assured produce.

• All meat served in halls and on main campus is Red Tractor and since May 2016 our halal chicken meat is Red Tractor standard across all units. All our hospitality dinners use 100% free range chicken.

• Our milk is certified Red Tractor Assured or equivalent. 

• We provide and promote the uptake of plant based milks in all our outlets at no additional cost for these alternative milks. Including oat, almond, soya, coconut and in 2024 promoted pea milk in some outlets.

Eggs

• We have ensured since 2010 that all whole/liquid/dried eggs purchased in all our LSE Catering units are 100 per cent from a free-range production system and any products purchased containing egg state that the eggs are from a free-range production system.

• Since 2017, the four catered halls only use organic free-range eggs that are sourced from a local farm.

Cooking oil

• We will ensure that 100 per cent of the oil used in LSE Catering is vegetable, rapeseed oil or olive oil. No trans fats will be used.

• We will continue to ensure that all used cooking oil be collected by a company who turn it into bio-diesel.

Fairtrade

• All our catering outlets serve tea, coffee and sugar that is ethically traded, Fairtrade refreshments are served at all conferences, meetings and events. Bananas on sale in all catering outlets are 100% Fairtrade.

• We serve triple accredited (Fairly Traded, Organic and Rainforest Alliance) coffee in the Garrick, Beveridge Cafe, Bean Counter, Cafe 54, Beaver's Brew and 5th Floor Staff Coffee Bar. (The Rainforest alliance works to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainability livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behaviour).

• We have introduced direct trade coffee from Union Coffee in the Shaw Café which has direct links with its suppliers across the globe and holds high ethical trading values. 

• We promote Fairtrade products and actively support Fairtrade Fortnight in all catering units and provide year round information which supports Fairtrade initiatives.

• We monitor the percentage of sales that are Fairtrade and report figures via the Catering Environmental Working Group, at a minimum we ensure 10 per cent are Fairtrade - we average at around 20% of sales each year.

Sustainable Restaurant Association - Food Made Good - Three Star Rating

• In 2015 we first submitted our brief to the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) and in 2017 retained their two-star rating. In 2018 we were awarded a three-star rating for four catered halls and the three main restaurants on campus. Subsequently we have maintained a 3-star rating at the 2022 audit and have actively working on completing the audit in 2024.
  
  More information: The SRA

   

Soil Association - Food For Life Served Here - Silver and Bronze Awards

• The Soil Association wants to make good, environmentally friendly produced food the easy choice for everyone. In 2017, our catered halls Bankside House, Carr-Saunders Hall, Passfield Hall and Rosebery Hall achieved the Food for Life Served Here - Silver Award. The LSE Garrick received a Bronze Award in 2018 and the Shaw Cafe in 2019. We have maintained these silver and bronze awards at subsequent audits and have been re-acredited in 2024. 
  
  More information: Soil Association

Aim: Work in close collaboration with the LSE community

Communication, events, and promotions

• Actively promote the benefits of a diet that is healthy, and environmentally and socially sustainable, by enhancing customer awareness through guidance, product information and awareness campaigns.

• We communicate our environmental and food policy and specific information regarding sustainability initiatives of our food to our service users, visitors and staff via the staff and student newsletters, flyers, notice-boards, website and street stalls and formally communicate our progress via the Catering Services User Group (CSUG) and Catering Environmental Meeting. We have Twitter and Facebook accounts where we post details and photos to highlight our sustainability achievements, collaboration with students and #SustainableLSE.

• Money from the LSE Sustainable Projects Fund helped fund a student investigative trip around the Scottish Coast. It has also enabled the installation of an 'observation hive' to allow viewing of the beehives on the roof of Counaught House. This allows students and staff to visit without disturbing the bees. 

• We will raise awareness of sustainable foods by promotions and events including supporting the Student Union Green Week, Veganary, Fairtrade Fortnight, Vegetarian Week. We actively support student, environment and sustainability team's and HR/Wellbeing's healthy and sustainable initiatives.

• We enhance staff, customer and supplier awareness of relevant environmental and social effects of a sustainable diet via promotional guidance, product information and awareness campaigns. We work with various external bodies to promote sustainable objectives; these include but are not limited to, The Humane Society, The Vegan and Vegetarian Society, Food For Life, Soil Association and Sustainable Restaurants Association.

• We will display notices at point of sale of bottled water stating "As part of our Environmental Policy, LSE wishes to discourage bottled water sales and encourage use of tap-water fountains and refillable water bottles. A levy of 25p per bottle purchased will be put towards LSE environmental improvement projects".

Strategic reporting and sustainability staff training

• Sustainability is a standard item on agendas for the Catering Services User Group (CSUG) and management meetings. A termly Catering Environmental Working Group is held with students, senior catering staff and members of the LSE Sustainability team, reporting back on the Catering Progress Tracker [PDF].

• We work with the LSE Sustainability team to follow best practice and ensure that our local aims are aligned to the university strategic aims. We include environmental sustainability issues on all team meeting agendas.

• Build responsability for sustainable issues into the roles of all catering staff and support this with appropriate training.

• We seek appropriate training for all levels of staff to encourage awareness of sustainable and healthy eating issues. 

• We have sustainability information noticeboards in all our units to inform staff and customers of environmental and sustainability matters.

• We have introduced Winnow food waste reduction technology systems in our halls of residence at Bankside House and are using data the system provides to implement strategies for reducing food waste in the kitchen and student plate waste.

• We have senior managers attend the TUCO (The University Caterers Organisation) termly sustainability meetings.

Certifications and external benchmarking

• We participate each year in the NUS SOS Green Imapct Scheme, and have achieved Platinum Awards, Gold Awards, Silver and a Special Award for Environmental Improvement. In 2019/20 we achieved a Committed Contributor Award. 

• In 2018 the three main restaurants and four catered halls achieved a  Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) three star rating and have maintained a 3 Star Rating in subsequent audits.

• Our halls catering also hold the Silver Food for Life Award from the Soil Association. The LSE Garrick Restaurant and Shaw Café both hold a Bronze award.

• We recognise our responsibility as an employer by educating catering staff in food sustainability. Staff will be aware of the various certification systems and their relevance for food production and food products that we use. 

Aim: Minimise waste in particular food waste and increase recycling.

Food waste

• We have food waste collections on campus on a daily basis and send to a local unit for turning into usable compost or to an anaerobic digestion (AD) plant. We monitor this monthly, from daily till waste data, to see if there are any patterns to help us to reduce our waste and report via the Catering Sustainability Working Group. Read more at LSE Food waste [PDF].

• We work with LSESU Food Cycle to reduce food waste.

• We offer a 50 per cent discount on sandwiches and wraps every Friday across campus to reduce food waste.

• In 2020 we introduced the Too Good To Go Food App to help reduce food wastage. We offer viable leftover food items on the Too Good To Go platform from cafes across the campus. 

Disposables (cups, cutlery...)

• In September 2020 we introduced a 25p levy on single use coffee cups to encourage the use of the KeepCups by behavioural change.

• We encourage the use of KeepCups by stocking them in the outlets and giving the first drink free with the initial sale of the cup in order to reduce the amount of disposable cup waste and will report the amount of KeepCups sold per month to the Catering Environmental Working Group. 

• We have worked with student and academic research projects to understand how best to encourage behaviour change and the adoption of a reusable cup.

• We monitor the amount of plastic saved by customers using a reusabel cup in our outlets annually.

• We encourage use of refillable water bottles. Re-usable cold-water bottles are stocked and promoted for customer use in our units and in 2023 intoduced Bottle Up refillable water bottles in all outlets. 

• We now provide reusable plastic drinking cups in our outlets for hospitality functions to save on single use plastic water cups. We also offer reusable plastic drinking cups in all our restaurants.

• We encourage customers to use crockery instead of disposables and provide reusable/recyclable/biodegradable products instead of polystyrene.

• We discourage take-away by providing comfortable seating in all our facilities and provide crockery wherever dishwashing facilities are available.

• We no longer use plastic straws and have replaced them with paper straws in all our outlets. Any takeaway cutlery provided is wooden.

Water - Bottled and tap

• We charge a levy of 25p on all bottles of water purchased which supports Catering sustainability initiatives and the LSE Sustainable Projects Fund.

• We promote the use of re-usable water bottles to reduce the dependence on bottled mineral water and have held campaigns to promote their use.

• We actively support students and staff drinking tap water and positively encourage the use of drinking fountains.  

• The main campus now has over 70 drinking water fountains, designed for filling both cups and bottles. To see where they are visit: Water fountains - LSE Facilities Guide . Free tap water is availble from the fountains/jugs as appropriate in all the LSE Catering outlets.

• We offer tap water in jugs, or purified still, and sparkling tap water bottled on site using re-usable glass bottles in all our serviced hospitality. We no longer offer mineral water in plastic bottles for hospitalty events.

• We have introduced water from companies that are actively involved in delivering water projects to companies in the developing world.

Waste and recycling

• We actively look at ways to reduce the amount of waste material we generate by engaging with our suppliers regarding packaging.

• We will provide facilities for recycling and ensure that dry waste (e.g. cardboard, paper, metal) is kept seperate from wet waste (e.g. food).

• Where there is unavoidable waste that we are unable to reuse we will provide and encourage use of facilities for recycling and ensure that dry waste (e.g. cardboardboard, paper, metal) is kept separate from wet waste (e.g. food). 

• We have introduced cardboard sandwich platter boxes which have replaced plastic platters.

• We re-home used plastic food containers by giving them away free to staff and students for future use as storage containers, etc. 

Aim: Reduce the environmental impacts of our supply chain

Procurement

• We make procurement decisions that take into account social and environmental factors whilst achieving best value for money, by selecting and engaging with suppliers - both directly and via our purchasing partners The University Caterers Organisation (TUCO).
• We are active members of TUCO and use TUCO Purchasing Framework Agreements. Through this suppliers are nominated and regulated, and sustainability issues are embedded into tendering specifications, see: TUCO sustainable procurement.  
• Individual catering contracts procured will be expected to comply with the LSE's Environmental, sustainable and healthy food policy and targets or standards set by the Soil Association or the Sustainable Restaurant Association.
• TUCO commissioned a report on the April 2019 TUCO sustainable palm oil supply chain and became an Associate of the Round table on Responsible Palm Oil (RSPO).
• We will liaise with our suppliers to gain information regarding provenance, nutrition and welfare of their products to assist us in making more informed choice and make our supply chain aware of our increasing desire to source ethically and sustainable products.
• We engage with smaller local niche suppliers, such as our greengrocer, who sources seasonal local produce.
• Our dairy supplier sources their milk from farms from the home counties.
• We work with LSE procurement to check the sustainability of our suppliers and to issue contracts.

Cleaning products

• We endeavour to use products, equipment and methods that have minimum environmental impact whilst ensuring a safe, clean environment.
• We do not use cleaning products that are tested on animals.
• We do not use bleach products in any of our catering outlets.

Transport

• We take the environmental impact of supplier transportation into consideration when procuring goods and services. West Horsley, who supply us, have FORS accreditation and use Eco-Hybrid vehicles.
• We use local suppliers whenever feasible to reduce our carbon footprint. Where non local suppliers are used, we will keep deliveries as infrequent as practical and encourage suppliers to use modern fuel efficient, hybrid or electric vehicles.
• We manually transport goods and services within our site.
• We require staff to use public transport when on business travel.
• The university offers a cycle purchasing scheme (Cyclescheme) and season ticket loan scheme to encourage staff to travel to work.

Aim: Minimise energy and water consumption across our operations

• We label the main hot dishes in the restaurants with a Carbon Impact traffic light labelling system to raise awareness of the carbon impact of different food types in the dishes and encourage increased uptake in low carbon options.
• We save energy and water through efficient administration, equipment selection, usage and disposal, food storage, preparation, and cooking.
• We review the methods we use in our preparation, cooking and storage to ensure they are the most efficient and effective means to reduce energy whilst maintaining quality and freshness.
• We turn off equipment, heating, lighting and water when not needed and use auto-timers where possible.
• Our contracted maintenace company regularly do Planned Preventative Maintenance (PPM) on all our equipment to increase the energy efficiency of appliances.
• We reuse equipment where practical to do so and dispose of obsolete equipment in the most environmetnally friendly way possible.
• We take environmental impact and energy saving features into consideration when purchasing new equipment. All new equipment purchased will be A rated wherever possible.
• We use natural ventilation where feasible.