Green & Ethical Catering

Pembroke Catering takes great pride in its ethical and green credentials. During the last four years we have accomplished the following:

1. We became the 2nd Fairtrade accredited college in Cambridge during 2006.
2. We are Vegan society accredited since Jan 2008.
3. We are the only college in Cambridge to exclusively serve free-range chicken and eggs
4. We offer the largest range of vegetarian and vegan foods of any college in Cambridge
5. We eliminated all foods containing hydrogenated fats during 2005
6. We cook with a blend of 75% extra-virgin olive oil and 25% grape seed oil thus reducing the levels of harmful saturated fats in our food
7. We use Low-Salt in order to reduce sodium levels in our food.
8. We do not sell endangered species of fish and try to source all our seafood from sustainable or MSC certified fisheries.
9. We source as much of our Vegetables, fruit and meat as possible from local suppliers
10. We were awarded a 5-star food safety rating by the local environmental health office in 2006, one of only three colleges in Cambridge to achieve the maximum scores-on- doors rating. During the summer break we were re-inspected and again awarded 5-Star status.
11. We are the first Catering department in Cambridge to measure its weekly carbon footprint. Each week we display the total CO2 emitted per meal during the previous week and actively take measures to reduce this amount throughout the department.
12. All our food waste is composted as opposed to land filled; this process greatly reduces the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere (When waste food ends up in landfill it is effectively buried without a supply of oxygen. The anaerobic decay of buried food releases both carbon dioxide and methane gas, methane has a global warming potential 25 times higher than carbon dioxide.)
13. We are constantly working with our suppliers to reduce the amount, and type of packaging they use. Peppercorns, our sandwich supplier have just introduced new packaging that is 100% biodegradable and does not contain any petroleum based plastics.
14. In hall you will find recycling bins for coffee cups, plastic bottles and glass bottles. Please, please, please get into the good habit of using these bins; your efforts will greatly reduce the amount of items sent to land fill.
15. Earlier this year we became the first College to stop selling bottled water in their servery. We have a filtered water machine that dispenses both still and sparkling water. You can fill any 500ml bottle for 21p, or drink the tap water from hall.
16. Adopt a Mug and Starve a Bin Campaign. Last term we began offering a 10% discount to students who bring their own mug to hall. You may leave your mug on the tray when finished and we will wash it and return it to the shelf just inside the servery door.