Sheffield

The Yorkshire university paving the way with climate-conscious cafes

Sophie Smith - 15th December 2023

Did you know all University of Sheffield bars, cafes and restaurants are open to everyone?

This means that regardless of whether you're a student looking for a bite to eat before your next lecture or a local that wants a hot drink and cake whilst catching up with friends, the whole community can benefit from the options available.

Each building is unique, but warmly welcoming, and there's always an incredible selection available to choose from for all dietary requirements.

And for climate-conscious foodies, you're in for a real treat.

The University of Sheffield puts the planet at the forefront of its plans, and minimises its environmental impact wherever possible with its 'think local, act global' initiative.

The idea is that as many ingredients as possible are sourced from local butchers, greengrocers, coffee roasters and even dairy farms.

Our Cow Molly is a prime example of this. The local farm is located in Dungworth (S6), and sees their milk go from cow to coffee in as little as three hours. The locality of the business means that delivery emissions are reduced, local people are given jobs within the production line and customers like you and I get fresh free-range milk, served in giant 20 pints churns to minimise plastic wastage.

Now of course it's impossible to source everything from Sheffield but when the university is looking for products like coffee beans for instance, the supply chain is reduced as much as possible to ensure farmers and suppliers have their pay potential maximised.

The development of Roastology, the local supplier UOS uses for its coffee, is currently partnered with researchers from the University of Sheffield to support the development of the co-operative and work to solve problems within the global industry.

Food waste accounts for 9.5 million tonnes per year, but the University of Sheffield is ensuring that not only is all food wastage minimised, but that it goes to a deserving cause.

If there's any sandwiches, veggies or even cake left over at the end of the day, it is placed inside the community fridges at UOS accommodation sites Endcliffe and Ranmoor for students and members of the community to help themselves, completely free of charge. This is saving an average of twenty tonnes of food each year alone.

There's murals all around the cafe documenting the different initiatives across the university campus, encouraging locals to find out more about the reusable cups, electric delivery vehicles and even a 'Save our Sandwiches' campaign that minimises food waste and supports vulnerable people in Sheffield.

Need any more stats to get you thinking? This academic year, across the University of Sheffield, over 100,000 fewer single-use cups will be used across campus.

To find out more about the University of Sheffield's sustainability initiatives, you can visit the WithUS website.

All images - Benjamin Elliott via Unsplash

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