Table 2.
Strategies outlined in Governance documents to support sustainable food systems
| Strategies (n = universities) | |
| FOOD WASTE MANAGEMENT AND REDUCTION (n = 13) | |
| Prevent food waste (n = 9) | |
| Serve appropriate portion sizes to minimize waste | |
| Give leftovers to participants to take home or share within the university or donate to charity | |
| Store foods appropriately to maximize shelf life | |
| At events, cater for correct numbers (i.e. RSVPs rather than estimates) | |
| Implement strategies to reduce food waste | |
| Work with retailers to reduce food waste | |
| Engage food waste charities in community events on campus to increase student engagement in reducing food waste | |
| Accommodate dietary requirements to avoid waste | |
| Dispose of food waste in a sustainable manner (n = 13) | |
| Food waste composting to increase by a total 30% | |
| Cooking oil used on campus must be processed into biodiesel | |
| Compost/use worm farms to dispose of food waste | |
| Reduce food scraps in land-fill composting and collecting scraps for pig food | |
| Food waste should be composted if rescue was not possible | |
| Minimize packaging (n = 5) | |
| Reduce bottled water by providing water filling stations and discouraging staff and students from single use plastic water bottles | |
| The purchase, sale and distribution of single use plastic water bottles are not permitted in any university facility. | |
| Offer an incentive/promote re-usable cups | |
| Serve tap water not bottled water | |
| Use reusable crockery | |
| Choose foods with minimal packaging | |
| Flavored beverages (except where no alternative exists) must be in non-plastic materials | |
| Serve sugar, salt, and condiments in reusable dishes, rather than packet | |
| Recycle packaging (n = 13) | |
| Outlets and catering services must use reusable catering supplies and ensure compatible with the university recycling system | |
| Increase practical options for recycling | |
| Improve recycling facilities in dinging areas | |
| Develop a policy for campus suppliers to reduce packaging and cease use of polystyrene | |
| Work towards caterers using only recyclable food packaging that can be recycled onsite | |
| Develop and monitor practices that will reduce waste to landfill and increase recycling | |
| Use biodegradable and/or recyclable packaging products | |
| General (n = 1) | |
| Implement a comprehensive behavior change campaign to ensure staff and students use the systems in place to reduce waste | |
| ETHICAL PROCUREMENT (n = 12) | |
| Steering committees (n = 5) | |
| Establish a fair-trade steering committee | |
| Fair-Trade canteen consumables (n = 12) | |
| Select fair-trade tea, coffee, and hot chocolate (when available) | |
| Make (only) fair-trade products (tea, hot chocolate, coffee, chocolate, and nuts) available across all campus outlets/at staff events | |
| Encourage the voluntary establishment of the ‘fair-trade kitchenette’. A representative staff member overseas and monitors staff response to transiting to fair-trade products in the office | |
| Only work with companies that already support Fair-Trade | |
| Embed Fair-Trade into catering policies | |
| Work with campus suppliers to ensure Fair-trade is provided at all university events | |
| University preferred suppliers will only provide Fair-trade canteen consumables | |
| Make (only) Fair-trade Certified Products available at meetings and in office kitchens | |
| Community Engagement (n = 8) | |
| Regularly display promotional materials for fair-trade offerings (cafes/events/in newsletters/noticeboards) | |
| Increase student engagement and support in fair-trade | |
| Develop engagement strategy for increasing discussion of fair-trade issues within academia and bring together all relevant interested parties | |
| Celebrate fair-trade fortnight on Campus | |
| Fair-Trade accreditation (n = 4) | |
| Achieve and/or sustain fair-trade status | |
| Create a sustainable procurement policy that includes food (i.e. fair-trade) | |
| Support fair-trade | |
| ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE FOOD CONSUMPTION (n = 8) | |
| Seasonal, local, organic food (n = 5) | |
| Use seasonal produce from local suppliers (list of fruit and vegetables provided for caterers) | |
| Expand edible landscaping and promote the benefits of local food | |
| Provide food grown on campus to food insecure students or to supply campus cafes | |
| Increase the availability of locally sourced and sustainably produced foods on campus | |
| Supply food produced by environmentally friendly production methods i.e. organic certified food | |
| On-campus caterers use local and seasonal produce | |
| Animal products (n = 5) | |
| Provide vegetarian options | |
| Minimize the use of meat, dairy and eggs | |
| Sustainable seafood (n = 4) | |
| Use sustainable seafood (i.e. sustainable fish stocks caught with methods that do not harm the environment) | |
| Health and well-being (n = 3) | |
| Provide foods that are healthy and promote well-being | |
| General (n = 5) | |
| Use the university approved sustainable catering services that adhere to the principals of sustainable catering | |
| Introduce beehives as part of a biodiversity management plan | |
| Support sustainable procurement including catering | |
| Engage with all sectors of the community that drive sustainability e.g. provide grants for community gardens, hold a farmer’s market on campus for local seasonal food | |
| Enhance efforts to interest the university community in sustainably produced foods | |
| Use campus engagement initiatives e.g. support for a student led initiative to create a sustainable food system and calculate nitrogen release from food production | |
| Promote sustainable initiatives at events/to consumers | |
| Participate in research and include curriculum to address risks including climate change, energy demand, water scarcity, population growth, food security and ecosystem decline | |
| Work towards integrating sustainability criteria into contracts including dining services | |
| ENERGY AND WATER CONSERVATION (n = 2) | |
| Caterers on campus agree to meet water conservation and energy efficiency standards | |
| Use fresh, not frozen vegetables to reduce energy costs | |
| Use energy efficient appliances for catering | |
| Conserve water use during catering and clean-up (install water saving device, water efficient dishwashers) and benchmark progress |