Sustainable catering

Sustainability is at the core of our catering outlet operations. A Sustainable and Ethical Food Plan (PDF) has been developed, setting out our Catering teams' commitment to sustainability and plan for future action.

Our plan for sustainable and ethical catering

Campus Services Catering at the University of Surrey operates a progressive and sustainable university food and events service, covering ten catering outlets including a Co-op franchise. Sustainability is embedded into how we design menus, work with suppliers, engage our community, and deliver daily service across campus.

In 2025, the University achieved 3-Star Food Made Good accreditation, the highest standard awarded by the Sustainable Restaurant Association. This independent recognition reflects our performance across sourcing, society, and environmental impact, placing us among the leading foodservice operations in the UK and internationally.

Over the past 12–18 months, our approach has moved beyond incremental improvement into transformational change. We have eliminated disposable coffee cups across campus through the introduction of a fully integrated reusable system, embedded circular economy principles into our packaging and operations, and strengthened our role in supporting student wellbeing through affordable, nutritious food and community-focused initiatives.

The Sustainable and Ethical Food plan (PDF) sets out how sustainability is delivered in practice across our operation, as measurable, operational activity. It reflects where we are now, the impact we are already achieving, and where we are continuing to push further. This plan is updated every year.

Key successes

Other recent successes from the Sustainable and Ethical Food plan include:

All nine of our catering units offer plant-based alternatives for main meals, soups, grab-and-go food, plus drinks.
Customers are encouraged to bring their own reusable cups and receive a 25p discount on all barista-made drinks when doing so, helping to further reduce reliance on single-use packaging.
Reusable coffee cups and lunch boxes are available to purchase across all outlets, supporting customers to make more sustainable choices on campus.
We have transitioned to compostable or recyclable packaging in all our outlets. The Hideout coffee shop on Stag Hill campus is now plastic free front of house.
We have introduced 11 new water refill points on campus to reduce single-use plastic and encourage the transition to reusable water bottles.
We have also removed all single-use plastic bottled drinks from our campus catering outlets, replacing them with fibre-based reusable Pulpex bottles and canned alternatives. The transition is expected to eliminate approximately 50,000 plastic bottles from our waste stream each year.
We have set up a Community Fridge with the Students' Union to minimise food waste, donating all pre-packaged goods to the University community.

Previous plans

Growing food on campus

Community Gardens

Two community gardens on our Stag Hill and Manor Park campuses provide space for staff and students to grow food on campus. Stag Hill garden is now managed by a group of staff volunteers, who offer free gardening sessions for students and staff every Tuesday afternoon. The Manor Park garden is run by the University's Vet Society. Both gardens receive support from the Horticulture & Landscape team.

During the 2025/2026 academic year, the Stag Hill community garden has opened up two new beds, offering further opportunity to grow a range of fruit and vegetables including potatoes, beans and beetroot. A new wildlife pond has also been created, aiming to extend the University's water corridor and improve biodiversity at the garden.

Beehives

Staff and students have set up beehives on campus. They not only provide an opportunity to produce local honey, but the bees also provide important pollinators needed to grow food, as well as wild flowers, on campus.

Lakeside Restaurant and Coffee Shop

Since 2019, Lakeside Restaurant and Coffee Shop have had a garden on their premises, where food and vegetables are being grown to be used on their menu. Lakeside now also sell the honey produced by the University's hives. They also incorporate this honey into meals on their menu.