From the ingredients on your plate to how you dine ♻️🍽️

We're proud to be the first university in the UK to receive the Gold Food for Life Catering Mark award by the Soil Association across all of our campuses and holders of the Green Kitchen Standard award. Meaning that the food and drink you see every day in your canteen is a commitment to supporting the climate, nature and your health.

And here's how we do it...

1. Sustainable produce

All of our suppliers are regional, which means that the produce you see in your College canteen is fresh and straight from the farm. In turn, our carbon footprint stays barely visible and we help support local business!

• All of the eggs you eat at UAL are organic and free range, locally sourced, lion stamped and RSPCA farm assured
• Our fish dishes (like on Fish and Chip Fridays) are all sourced sustainably from 'MJSeafood' Arctic catch and MSC certified
• The delicious handmade bakes in our cafés, from the flapjacks to the brownies, are made with regenerative flour from Wildfarmed

Find out more about where our food comes from, so you can enjoy a meal at university whilst knowing that you're lending a helping hand in making a positive impact on the environment. 

2. Zero waste to landfill

Did you know? 

• Since 2014, zero waste from you or our chefs in our canteens and cafés has gone to landfill
• 100% of our kitchen food waste is turned into renewable energy
• From January 2021, we have recycled over 2,500 litres of cooking oil into biodiesel using Ollecco (this is the same amount of carbon produced by 234 trees in a year)
• By using our 50% off unsold food scheme, you have saved 2625 food items (as of January 2026) from going to waste
• You can pick up our used coffee grounds to reuse them for plants, cleaning or even your art 

We don't like things going to waste at UAL, which is why we partner with companies like Waste Knot to rescue wonky veg from farmer's fields and make the most of them in our menus, daily soups and food and mood salad bars.

Everything matters in our kitchens, and it should in yours too. Check out our low-waste recipes to make a small positive step. 

3. Reuse, Refill, Upcycle

From compostable napkins and paper straws to biodegradable and recyclable takeaway boxes, we do our best to make sure that anything you could need in our canteens and cafés are environmentally-friendly.

We encourage all of our students to drink sustainably by offering a Café Loyalty Cards with great rewards. Get two stamps by using a UAL KeepCup, bringing your own reusable cup or using our china mugs and get a free drink after every ten. 

All of our vegan Lemon-aid+ and ChariTea soft drink bottles (which are Fairtrade certified) can also be reused at home. All you have to do is give them a wash and fill them with washing up liquid, shampoo, hand wash and more! Don't worry, we also do our bit to make sure the bottles go as far as possible by reusing them for condiments, spices and oils which you can spot around our canteens. 

4. Not just food

It's not just the food that we care about, we also make sure that recycled and upcycled materials are used to actually make parts of our cafés and canteens. We have worked with FSC Wood and Smile Plastics to create bespoke and sustainable furniture for our outlets to promote responsible forestry and change perceptions on waste through innovation. 

We follow the same principles in believing that waste can be turned into beauty. So across our colleges, keep your eye out for our counters made from reclaimed wood, FSC wood and even waste yoghurt pots!

By visiting our canteens and cafés, you are taking part in our ever-growing sustainable journey. 

Contact:

Follow us @ualcatering for more updates.