Sustainability within RNCM Food and Drink
At the RNCM, we’d like the quality of our food and drinks to leave a lasting impression on you, not on the environment.
We take steps to ensure that we’re operating in a sustainable, environmentally responsible way in everything that we do in our Café Bar and events we host.
Suppliers and produce
We practise sustainable procurement by purchasing products through TUCO. The TUCO framework uses suppliers, brands and businesses who meet specific sustainability requirements.
Produce is purchased from ethical sources including Fairtrade, free-range, Marine Conservation Society, Red Tractor and Rainforest Alliance. We also prioritise local suppliers where possible to support community businesses and reduce food miles.
Our coffee supplier Cafeology is an independently owned coffee company who purchase direct from coffee growers in Central and Southern America, ethically and responsibly sourced to minimise the impact on the environment.
A SMART menu is in place where we use the same ingredients across numerous dishes. We constantly review our menu and remove less popular dishes in order to reduce wastage. We also buy non-perishable items in bulk.
Utensils and cups
Single-use plastic glasses are no longer provided from the Concert Bar for those taking drinks into our auditoriums and have been replace with branded, reusable half and pint cups from Happy Cups.
The café sells an RNCM branded Keep Cup and offers a discount on each hot drink purchased when you bring your own reusable cup. This saves per year (based on an average of how many reusable cups are used at the Café Bar each week) approximately 2400 single-use cups, 7kg of plastic, 54kg of timber and 88kg of carbon dioxide.
The takeaway hot drink cup that we offer is 100% recyclable, which means no part of it needs to be separated in order for it to be recycled. The paper material yield after recycling can vary depending on the quality of the paper processing mill, but after the recycling of our cups we expect a 97.9% yield of recycled material for reuse.
Our next step is to reduce the number of papers cups used. The RNCM (in conjunction with University of Manchester and Manchester City Council) is piloting a returnable cup scheme to reduce our reliance on disposable cups. The cups are deposit free, and customers will only pay for the cup if they decide not to return it within 14 days.
We have replaced our plastic takeaway cutlery with wooden or composable plant-based options.
Plant-based options
Approximately 26% of our Cafe Bar Menu is vegan and we have a dedicated vegan section in our grab and go fridge. We also provide a range of alternative milks.
Waste management
The RNCM follows the Guardians of Grub six ways to save food waste:
- Smart Ordering: Checking stock and purchasing only what’s needed. Buying smaller portions of fresh produce, ordering more often. Supporting local to get fresh seasonal produce that lasts longer.
- Savvy Storage: First in, first out! Storing newer items at the back to ensure older items are used first. Labelling and dating new supplies as they come in. Using airtight containers or cling film to keep ingredients fresh – or freezing them.
- Smart Menu: Exploring ways of using the same ingredients for different dishes. Using cooking methods for meat, fruit and vegetables and herbs that make the most of ingredients. Being creative by using leftover ingredients and offcuts.
- Essential Skills: Empowering staff and training them on how to throw away less food safely. Reviewing preparation schedules and food handling procedures. Removing less popular or time consuming dishes from our menus.
- Right Portion Sizes: Offering portion size and side dish options as well as takeaway doggy boxes.
- Engage Customers: Letting our customers know about the work we’re doing to save food from being thrown away and asking what they think. Finding out what food they don’t like and leaving it out of their food.
Our waste cooking oil is turned into biodiesel, thus reducing energy consumption and food waste. We employ Filtafry, whose cooking oil recycling services naturally preserve the environment by extending the life of cooking oil.
Our food waste is transformed into renewable energy (10,368 KWH per annum) and nutrient-rich biofertilizer (12 tonnes per annum) through our partnership with ReFood, the UK’s top provider of renewable energy from food waste. This initiative also reduces the Catering team’s CO2 emissions by approximately 7 tonnes each year.
We have recycled old furniture from the café by donating it to other organisations rather than sending it to landfill.
Our chopping boards are regularly swapped out for a resurfaced set using the Nella Cutlery resurfacing service. This saves money, ensures we are food safe and reduces plastic waste.
We continue to commit to cutting out all single-use plastics as part of the joint pledge with other Greater Manchester Universities, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust and Further Education Colleges, and if using plastic ensure it is 100% recyclable and where possible made from recycled plastic.
We are in the process of creating a Sustainable Food Policy which will focus on waste management.
