Sustainability: Suppliers

Local suppliers include:

Good Food Oxford FarmtoFork 

Farm to Fork, part of Good Food Oxfordshire initial aims were to avoid wastage of crops from local Oxfordshire farmers that were not purchased via standard commercial routes and to promote a short supply chain, with an initial trial involving a handful of colleges, Green Templeton being one of them.

Last year they saved have sold over 15 tonnes of fresh local produce and saved nearly 700 tonnes of carbon emissions by providing local deliveries with zero emissions

We got involved because:

• They source organically grown / organic methods but not certified Vegetables for less than we would pay threw normal markets.
• Direct sale of vegetables supports the local farms as there are no middlemen to pay.
• The quality of the vegetables is incredible due to it being harvested the day before it arrives at the kitchen door.
• Very low food miles. Veg is picked up by electric van from the farms, taken back to Velocity depo and delivered to individual collages via electric bike.
• Farm to fork is now looking at forming a co-operative to include the colleges, which will require some commitment and financial investment.  Green Templeton Domestic Bursar Teresa Strike is sitting on the new board looking at how we can make it a co-operative and successful into the future

Bonners (Oxford)

• Bonners are located here in Oxford within the covered market, and provide our fresh fruit and vegetables.
• A family run business, they are a traditional farm 9 generations old
• They use a number of local farms one of which is Laggotts Farm, 9 miles from us, outside Hinton in Oxfordshire.
• Bonners supply us with purple sprouting, white sprouting, broccoli, red onions, cabbages and squashes.

Mayfield Eggs (Witney)

• Mayfield are located only 8 Miles from Oxford
• Eggs are laid, graded and packed on the farm.
• High welfare free range eggs delivered within 3-5 days of being laid
• Eggs are collected from hen houses on reusable plastic trays which are cleaned and disinfected – a significant improvement from the traditional cardboard trays
• Eggs are delivered directly to the customer and they only serve customers within a maximum 20-mile radius.
• They also provide the option to add on cherries, strawberries, cherry and plumb tomatoes from Evesham farm for those on the same delivery route as their eggs to help reduce road miles.
• All packaging is sourced from recycled materials and all customers are requested to return all packaging which is reused for non-grade A eggs
• All high quantity customers (such as Oxford university colleges) have the option to have their eggs delivered on reusable plastic trays, eliminating the need to use pulp trays. Based on average consumption of 8 cases of eggs per week, this saves over 3000 trays per year
• Their poultry manure is provided to local arable farmers (less than 5 miles from Mayfield Eggs) as a substitute for artificial nitrate additive, thus reducing the requirement to transport / dispose of manure or for farmers to purchase artificial fertilizer with associated carbon miles.

Jericho Cheese Company (Oxford)

• Specialise in British and Irish cheeses along with other UK diary products such as milk and butter
• They also sell local bread from Lechlade

New Wave Fish and Seafood (Fairford)

• Their fresh fish and shellfish are caught in Britain’s coastal waters, mainly in Devon, Cornwall and Scotland
• They buy daily, direct from small day-boats and at 5 main fish auctions.
• Wherever possible they buy fish that are line-caught by small dayboats to minimize the impact on the marine environment.
• New Wave has a firm policy to buy seafood from well-managed, sustainable sources in order to protect our oceans for the future.
• Carry an extensive range of farmed fish, including salmon, trout, halibut, sea bass, gilthead bream and stone bass.
• New Wave have a large shellfish tank at our premises enables us to provide customers with lobster at short notice.
• Most of their smoked products are from local producers, including Severn and Wye Smokery.
• Support the Responsible Fishing Scheme (RFS), an independent certification scheme designed to promote and recognise good practice in the fishing industry, and to ensure effective conservation and management of the living aquatic resources. Wherever possible, we give priority to vessels committed to the scheme

Wild Venison & Game

• The College works closely with Wild Venison and Game professional deer management and purveyors of wild venison
• Deer are harvested at the right time of year dependant upon species and are tagged, butchered, packed and distributed by Wild Venison & Game
• Wild venison provides a great option for sustainable meat consumption especially when we use the whole carcass.
• More information on why we use venison meat can be found here

Kingfisher

• Sources fish and seafood responsibly are paramount. They believe in promoting the most sustainable seafood available and we work with a range of Non-Profit Organisations, such as the MSC, to develop and market sustainable alternatives.
• Part of their training includes regular guides which they produce using the Good Fish Guide as a directory. This enables the team to offer responsible advice to our customers to ensure our menus are sustainable, and that endangered species are avoided.
• Seek third-party independent accreditation wherever possible and give preference to suppliers that are accredited.
• Source and origin of the seafood and endeavour to shorten the supply chain wherever possible

Stickleback (Hertfordshire)

• Work with Sustainable Fish Cities to determine specific sustainability requirements and policies.
• Preventing over 70 tonnes of waste heading to landfill per year and reducing their total waste going to landfill to under 2%
• Offer a good selection of MSC-approved seafood and are fully committed to offering an increasing selection of fish from MSC sustainable sources
• In 2017, they purchased a polystyrene crusher allowing us to fully re-cycle our polystyrene boxes
• They have renewed all our refrigeration and have moved to sensor activated LED lighting to improve on electricity consumption by a target of 30%

Cotswold Meat & Game 

• Game birds and Cotswold venison come from shoots on local estates and all dressed by hand
• Local keepers supply all the venison in can between running shoots, and when this is not sufficient the deer is bought from approved dealers in Scotland
• 8 years ago they struck up a partnership with Todenham Manor Farm (15 minutes away). This provided them with a drying room and a very knowledgeable team of butchers.
• This relationship supplies the beef (Aberdeen Angus crossed with South Devon), lamb (Suffolks) and pork (Middlewhite)
• All livestock is reared in fields on a 900 acre farm near Morton in Marsh
• Quality and high welfare practices are at the core of everything they do and have been recognised with 13 stars to this effect.
• The abattoir at Long Compton is two and a half miles up the road from the farm, so traceability across the food chain is assured.
• The farm is SALSA registered.
• Solar panels adorn pretty nearly every farm roof producing 150KW of sustainable electricity per hour.
• Their poultry comes variously from Shropshire (Chickens) and Devon (Duck).
• Free range woodland eggs come from Billy’s eggs Stow on the Wold  (4 miles) and our range of cheeses come from Kingstone Dairy, Chedworth  (was 2 miles but has moved and is now 24 miles ) and Daylesford Organic (1 mile).

Alden’s (Osney Mead)

• The majority (80%+) of the meat is sourced from the UK.
• Grass-fed beef is selected from low intensity UK farms including areas of Protected Geographical Indication areas (PGI). They work closely with Hollands Farm in Great Milton, Oxfordshire for sustainably produced and grass-fed beef
• Lamb is sourced from Oxfordshire and surrounding counties. Lambs are mainly Texel and Suffolk breeds and graze on meadow grass and wildflowers. Aldens are the exclusive supplier of Oxfordshire lamb from the Blenheim Palace Estate, a World Heritage Site set in over 2000 acres of an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and UNESCO World Heritage Site. The lamb is fed exclusively on traditional and herbal grass leys
• The free-range pigs spend all their time outside and are fed on a natural diet of wheat and barley
• The majority of chicken is sourced from UK farms that use traditional farming methods with high welfare standards. Our free-range birds are slow grown for a longer period of time as nature intended, meaning the meat has more time to develop and is more succulent with a great flavour.
• The UK duck is from Suffolk
• Venison from Church Farm in Abingdon
• Burgers and sausages are homemade on site each day are prepared using beef from heritage breeds.
• Where possible they use recyclable packaging. We use up to 70% less packaging than supermarkets
• Committed to sourcing the highest quality produce that is fully traceable from farm to fork. Every product is fully coded, so we can trace the product back to the farm giving you the assurance everything is traceable
• Hold several accreditations including BRC “AA” Grade, Red Tractor, FSA license giving you the confidence all processes throughout the supply chain are robust.
• Proud to have Oxfordshire’s first fully electric, refrigerated delivery van
• Aldens of Oxford are striving to become carbon neutral in all direct operations and significantly reduce our broader carbon footprint.
• Conducting a feasibility study into using solar panels and harnessing the heat energy lost using fridges and using it as a heat source, reducing our overall energy use.
• Building an electric vehicle fleet- We’re planning to move to a completely electric fleet within 5 years if technology allows and we’re are working closely with our logistic partners on this.

Jolly Foods (Carterton)

• Branded Beef is “Windrush Meade” British beef, mainly slaughtered and prepared at “Mutchmeats,” Witney and from Collicut Meats in Cheltenham.
• Pork and Lamb are Collicut Meats, Mutchmeats, Witney & Orchard Farm
• Poultry is Banham Poultry, Norfolk, JAK Foods, Ipswich, Creedy Carver, Devon
• Smoked products from Coln Valley Smokery and Upton Smokery
• Game is sourced from Conbury Park

Philip Dennis (Witney)

• Installation of Frigoblock freezers driven by the alternator system, further reduces CO2 emissions. Helping our delivery fleet to consume up to 50% less fuel than trucks with diesel refrigeration machines and emitting up to 50% less
• Use 100% renewable energy sources, have installed wind turbines and solar panels that produce up to 60% of their electricity requirements. The combined CO2 saving power of the turbines and solar panels is the equivalent of planting over 100,00 trees.
• Switched to LED energy saving lightbulbs on timers
• Over 150 tonnes of recycling each year
• Member of Caterforce who are introducing significant sustainable changes to the own brand Chef’s Selections Range including ingredients, animal welfare, plastic and palm oil reductions.
• Have a donation scheme for not fit for sale items such as dented cans or short shelf life to the local Witney community

Savona (Kidlington)

• Local depot- based in Kidlington
• Invested with a Climate Partner to conduct a full carbon footprint appraisal of the business- this will enable them to reduce and offset their current corporation and produce footprint
• Invested in 2 electric lorries which are the first dual compartment electric lorries in the UK and annually will save 50 tonnes of carbon emissions per year of use (see below)
• The company uses electric cars
• Switched to LED lighting
• Planted 2288 trees to offset carbon emissions
• Consolidation of delivery routes to minimise journey times- encouraging customers to have fewer but larger deliveries per week
• British Gas Zero Carbon Electricity Certificate- use 100& renewable energy
• Do not supply any single use plastics for their own brand range
• Investing in teams to research sustainable brands, trends, produce

These pioneering electric vans are now delivering to customers in Oxford – they are the first 100% electric dual-temperature vehicles in Europe!

Compared to diesel vehicles, these vans will save 24,960kg each of carbon per year. That’s the equivalent to the weight of houses per year, or 146 bars of gold!

Bidfood (Bicester)

• All vehicle fridges are electric
• 9 HVO (Hydro-treated vegetable oil) vehicles as current Elective vehicle technology has not evolved for HGVs- manufacturers claim these vehicles deliver up to 90% less Co2e compared to regular diesel.
• Solar panels on Chepstow depot with a further 5 sites selected for solar installation
• Reduced their food wastage by 200 tonnes from 2020-2021
• Using Fare Share to redistribute surplus food
• Developing pallet cages that can be reused to eliminate plastic wrap currently widely used in warehouses
• Many depots partner with animal sanctuaries, zoos and farms to offer surplus food
• Bicester donated over 7.7 tonnes of food to Curly Tails Pig Sanctuary which rescues unwanted pigs- cakes and buns being their favourite treat!
• Some depots have beehives to use up unsold sugar, others donate to local beekeepers
• 2025 target of all own brand packaging being recyclable
• Committed to a only supplying deforestation free soya policy for 2023 onwards
• Committed to only supplying cage free eggs by 2025
• Offer search criteria within their order portal for the below certifications, making it easier for customers to find products to certified standards
  Fairtrade- 108 lines
  MSC- 121 lines
  Red Tractor- 289 lines
  Farm Assured- 110 lines
  Rainforest alliance- 94 lines
  Organic- 115 lines
• We use Bidfood’s own brand Black and White Coffee which is certified fair trade for all our internal and conferencing coffees
• We source all our clipper Fairtrade teas from Bidfood again for all our internal catering and conference refreshments
• Average customer delivery address is only 22.5 miles from each depot- routes are planned to consolidate chilled, frozen and ambient deliveries

Seldram

• Consideration is given to every ingredient, using sustainable, plant-based ingredients which have minimal human and aquatic toxicity.
• In replacing traditional chemical ingredients with bio-renewables they avoid reliance on the petrochemical industry, providing significant CO2e savings and lowering pollution.
• Traditional solvents are replaced with eco-solvents that are rapidly biodegraded, have minimal aquatic toxicity and CO2e impact.
• They select chelating agents that are derived from natural, biodegradable, bio-based, renewable materials, providing a significantly greener alternative to traditional chelating agents.
• In the main, they utilise 100% PCR plastic bottles which can be recycled keeping the plastic in a closed loop system within the UK where the PCR bottles are manufactured.

BioPak

• Supplier of our compostable food packaging
• Certified B Corp (B Corp Certification is a designation that a business is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on factors from employee benefits and charitable giving to supply chain practices and input materials.
• Their plant-based products are designed to minimise the impact on our environment at each stage of their life cycle, by using innovative materials that are both sustainably sourced and rapidly renewable.
• Compostable packaging can help divert food scraps from landfill, avoiding harmful greenhouse gas emissions from decomposing organic matter. Both food waste and compostable packaging can go in the same bin to be turned into nutrient-rich compost.
• Products are designed to turn into compost, a new, valuable and locally produced resource, at the end of their useful life. We are continually investing in technology and material innovations – we are currently researching new fibre-based materials that perform even better in terms of customer experience and environmental impact.
• Facilities certifications are one of the important factors in our partner selection process. Our partner production facilities are certified to internationally recognised ISO 14000 Environmental Management Standard – or are in the process of applying for certification
• BioPak is committed to adopting and promoting best practices aligned with the Triple Bottom Line: People, Planet, and Profit. In addition, we donate 5% of profits to environmental restoration initiatives and community programs. Since 2010, we have planted 112,436 trees, and since 2012 we have donated over $3 million to support community and environmental give-back initiatives.
• We have chosen to use a bagasse type box for 95% of our packaging needs. Bagasse is a natural by-product of sugarcane refinement. It is the fibre that remains after sugarcane stalks are crushed to extract their juice. Bagasse pulp requires minimal processing and elemental chlorine free (ECF) bleaching to turn it into a woven high-strength paper that is biodegradable and compostable.

Tap Social

• Guest Beers on the College Bar: Tap Social are a small Oxford-based business with a social mission to employ prisoners and prison leavers, and to get others to do the same. To date they have created more than 95,000 hours of paid employment for prisoners on day release from prison (Release On Temporary Licence) and prison leavers. Having a job helps to build self-confidence and resilience, and leaves people better equipped to lead a productive and happy life. This in turn reduces reoffending and prevents victimisation. They produce an award-winning range of modern, accessible craft beer at their main production brewery in north Oxford which is just a few miles from our college main site.
• Part of Tap social movement is Proof Social, offering paid training and employment to people currently serving and recently released from prison.  Our sour dough comes from this artisan bakery.

 

Connect Vending (Wallingford)

• Our vending products include, Café Bonitas Freeze Dried – 100% FNC Columbian https, Café Bonitas Beans – Rainforest Alliance, Birchall Tea – Rainforest Alliance & Ethical Tea Partnership and Tate & Lyle Sugar – Fairtrade
• Their energy supply is generated entirely from zero-carbon sources including wind and solar, and our own warehouse solar panels are helping us to minimise our energy demands on the National Grid. This has been aided by the installation of site-wide LED lighting, and the introduction of energy-saving employee initiatives which are reducing electricity consumption from lights, air conditioning units and working equipment, when not in use.
• Our machine suppliers and consumables partners play a vital role in driving sustainability throughout the vending industry. Each of our suppliers hold ISO 14001 Environmental Management Certification, with goals set to reduce their own carbon footprint and improve product design fundamentals over the next five to ten years.
• We do not provide single use cups for either of our coffee machines at GTC

Ecopure (Haddenham)

• Refillable water station used by the catering team for all refreshments across site including in the dining room and for all meeting rooms.
• Still and sparkling water available, during service hours all members can request a refill from the catering team
• Mains fed- simply chilled, filtered and purified from the mains water supply so we have no need for bottled deliveries.
• We use glass bottles supplied by Ecopure- glass bottles have a lower carbon footprint over their lifetime; they remove the need for waste and recycling; they have zero landfill potential; and they reduce food miles.
• Ecopure have a longstanding commitment with the charity Just a Drop, for every system they sell in the UK they donate to Just a Drop which provides clean water and sanitation projects in poor communities around the world. Currently, donating enough to give clean, safe water to 50 children for up to ten years
• When our water filtration system receives a servicing, any filters, UV lamps, coolers and carbonators that need replacing are either recycled or fully refurbished, supporting a circular economy and preventing them from ending up in landfill.
• Our glass bottles are fully recyclable and made from part-recycled glass.

Office Water Coolers

• Refillable water station in the bar
• We do not provide any single use cups for our water machine
• Mains fed- simply chilled, filtered and purified from the mains water supply so we have no need for bottled deliveries.
• They are committed to making sure our watercoolers are recycled at the end of their working life. We comply fully with The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE), which aims to minimise the number of electrical goods, including watercoolers, which go to landfill.

CTS Laundry (Witney)

• New boilers that use less gas per wash and can wash at lower temperatures, 20oc lower on average
• Chemical supplier that has products specifically for use effectively at lower temps
• Members of the Climate control agreement since 2009
• Abide by the Solvent Emissions Directive
• New energy efficient boiler and tumble dryers
• New wash chemicals 100% free of NPE’s and phosphates
• Use a steam and condensate system to reduce lost energy

That Event Company

• Sound, lighting and AV hire company based in Oxford, used at some of our events.
• whose aim is to have the smallest carbon impact that is physically possible, by only doing events locally and going all all digital with no paperwork.
•  Their Green Plan can be found here