Real Junk Food… Student Sustainability Summit

The student Sustainability Summit on the 23rd of March is fast approaching… and the Susthingsout team will be attending the event at Leeds University, which is run by the EAUC, National Union of Students (NUS) and People & Planet this sell out conference will inform and motivate students to go back to their institutions and Unions with the knowledge and motivation to put…

“sustainability at the core of what you are and do”

As a student, my initial ‘go to’ interest is food. I am intrigued by the Real Junk Food Project, run by Leeds University. I wanted to know more. So I’m sharing what I found out. The initial idea for Real Junk Food Cafes is all due to Adam Smith, who like many noticed the incredible problem of wasted foods that supermarkets dispose of but unlike many he did something about it.

Adam Smith’s passion inspired two students from Leeds University to create the first ‘pay as you feel’ café in 2013. Students pay what they thought the meal was worth, as there are no prices. I’m sure the Go Green Week students did the same in their cake sale, asking for donations. Anyway back to Leeds. This approach makes food affordable for students, and gives those who are without food, food! Is this the start of making hunger history?  This project has inspired and pioneered other Real Junk Food cafes.

The project represents an alternative to the waste culture that we live in. Food is still edible and in its use by date, let alone best before date. Adam Smith recognised this, responding to environmental impacts: a small step in order to maintain a more sustainable future with food that’s safe to eat made into delicious meals. People pay what they can. Simple. Effective.

The Sustainable Restaurant Association, support this idea. The organisation helps restaurants become more sustainable, and have 7 University catering departments on board. Not mine, why it’s because catering in Worcester is outsourced to a third party and the SRA hasn’t got a system for these contracts yet. I believe this is something worthwhile as they are a non-profit organisation with their President Raymond Blanc making change for the better, a framework and badge with real ethics.

The Modern Pantry, a company who are supported by the Sustainable Restaurant Association, have saved 35-40% of costs for their rubbish collection, as they send back packages to suppliers. Wouldn’t it be better to use less packaging in the first place?

University of Worcester are also doing their bit to help! Fellow students Alex and Vanessa are doing a project with our caterers to use fewer disposable cups replacing them with mugs. This is a great idea, cafes use this, so why don’t we?  Alex worked out that a student who just drank 3 hot drinks a week whilst at uni would save over £35 because of the discount offered. Vanessa is investigating the environmental impacts of at how many cups we dispose of on campus – a frightening figure of around 320,000 per year.

Similar to the NUS-run initiative ‘student eats’, where students from many universities are encouraged to grow their own food, Worcester also has their own allotments. Though we don’t take part in this scheme, the University of Worcester have our own allotment expert, Diana Sandercock, who gives advice about growing food.

If you are a student at the University of Worcester and you want to get involved, go to the Facebook page above and drop Diana a message.

I’ve started in a small way I’m growing my own chilli plants (Evergreen and Lena- yes I named them) I picked up in Go Green Week are growing strong!

This is one step closer to a more sustainable future. Even though Worcester as-of-yet does not have their own Real Junk Food Café. I’m sure if enough of us students got together and set out a business plan they’d be supportive. Anyone interested?

I can’t wait to taste the food produced at the conference!  As students of many universities unite with one common goal we can:

“change today and protect tomorrow”