University of Birmingham is committed to providing sustainable food options and initiatives across campus, as part of our strategy to achieve our Net Zero Carbon plan.
Food Fellows is responsible for the many food and drink outlets across our campus, championing healthy and sustainable menus for our students, staff and the local community. As part of establishing a long-term plan to help deliver greener menus and support our mission to become net zero by 2045, Food Fellows will focus on 5 key areas:
- Food waste
- Ingredients
- Packaging and plastic
- Food miles and Fairtrade
- People
Some of these include sending kitchen food waste to anaerobic digestion plants, turning used coffee beans into fuel, reducing the amount of single-use plastic packaging across products, and aiming to make 50% of menus plant-based. Food Fellows is passionate about bringing great quality food from farm to fork, and will explore innovative ways to improve their services. For more information, see our Food, Beverage & Retail Sustainability Road Map.
Did you know?
Food Fellows were awarded a gold accreditation in the Green Impact Awards, which encourages sustainable working practices and behaviours within the workplace.
Too Good to Go
Food Fellows is fighting food waste with Too Good to Go, the app that lets you pick up a ‘Magic Bag’ full of unsold delicious foods from across selected outlets– at a great price – so it gets eaten instead of ending up as waste. There are seven collection points on campus: Starbucks (Bournbrook), The Exchange, Costa (Sports Centre), Costa (University Centre), Starbucks (Muirhead), Library Café and the Med School Café.
Community Pantry
The Guild of Students also offers a Community Pantry initiative which supports students struggling with the cost of living crisis by providing free food parcels. Students can register for this service and collect a parcel discreetly from the top floor of The Guild next to the Student Voice office. Donations are accepted at many locations across campus such as the University Centre, the Bramall Building, the Main Library, the Medical School, Muirhead Tower, and the Vale Village.