Key Issue 6
Tackling the climate and nature emergency through sustainable food and farming and an end to food waste
6A: PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE FOOD PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION AND RESOURCE EFFICIENCY
Cambridge City Council, South Cambridgeshire and Cambridgeshire County Council have all declared climate emergencies.
City Council
Declared climate and nature emergencies and convenes a cross-sector City Leaders' Climate Group. Whilst the City Council has had a Climate Change Strategy since 2008, it has recently consulted on and adopted a new strategy of which sustainable food is a key objective. As part of its work to engage the city the Council commissioned a new Climate Change Charter. Cambridge Sustainable Food wrote the food section of the Charter which links through to the Cambridge Sustainable Food Award Scheme for businesses. The City Council runs a Sustainable City fund for CO2 reduction initiatives, such as Cambridge Sustainable Food’s work with businesses.
Cambridge University #NoBeef change pack
Cambridge University/ Colleges
Cambridge University and many associated Colleges have sustainable food policies and successfully reduced meat consumption. Research conducted found a CO2 reduction of 34% per kg of food purchased due to policy changes by Cambridge University (79,863kg purchased 2018). Most of Cambridge University's rural estate and farm is managed under Higher Level Stewardship agreement with Natural England. Cambridge University worked with #NoBeef to develop a 'change pack' for organisations and educational settings showing that removing beef/lamb isn’t only environmentally better, but also healthier and more profitable.
Cambridgeshire
Fens Biosphere creation programme includes protection of Grade 1 and 2 land. Natural Cambridgeshire promotes initiatives that foster stewardship and good farming practice. Countryside Restoration Trust purchases farmland and woodland where traditional farming methods, wildlife habitat and biodiversity are threatened, such as Lark Rise Farm in Cambridgeshire.
Cambridgeshire County Council is working with county farm tenants to introduce carbon assessments and to promote nature and soil friendly techniques, and is actively seeking opportunities for peri-urban agriculture on county land.
Peterborough Environment City Trust ran Business Energy Efficiency Cambridge and Peterborough programme to improve energy efficiency in 270 small businesses (including food) through grants and support to end March 2020.
CoFarm growers
CoFarm
CoFarm’s core design principle is farming in harmony with nature and an agroecological approach. CoFarm works in collaboration with Nature Friendly Farming Network, Pesticide Action Network and Soil Association on nature-friendly and peer-to-peer training for farmers. CoFarm and Institute for Continuing Education (Cambridge University) are developing a foundation degree in CoFarming. CoFarm aims to expand to 500 acres of community farming in and around Cambridge (interest from landowners: National Trust; Cambridge Past, Present & Future; conventional farmers considering transition to agroecology). RSPB are providing biodiversity and natural capital monitoring for a pilot site in Abbey Ward and have approved at national level to scale up work with CoFarm. NIAB provides training, advice and support on agri-tech.
Food For Our Future
Cambridge Sustainable Food’s website has pages on business resource efficiency and sustainability. In 2021/22 Cambridge Sustainable Food is running a Zero Carbon Communities “Food for our Future” campaign, focusing on reducing meat and dairy plus food waste reduction, and is working with Sustainable Food Places to develop a national campaign on climate diets. Cambridge Sustainable Food also runs campaigns for businesses, such as Sustainable Fish Cities (25 organisations signed up, including 22 University Colleges), and Taste Not Waste (15 participating businesses).
6B: REDUCE, REDIRECT AND RECYCLE FOOD, PACKAGING AND RELATED WASTE
Community Food Hubs locations
There are many initiatives across the city working to reduce, redirect and recycle food-related waste.
Redistribution Centre, Food Hubs
The City Council has committed to funding Cambridge Sustainable Food and the Food Poverty Alliance to set up a surplus food redistribution centre and kitchen. At present they are supporting a temporary community centre site. In 2020/21 the hub distributed 266+ tonnes food to those most in need - 37 tonnes sourced through local businesses, 120 tonnes from Fareshare Ipswich and the rest from donations and surplus from FareshareGo and other schemes, such as Neighbourly. This food has gone to local groups, organisations and nine Food Hubs. They are part of a Whatsapp group who coordinate pickups and share produce. Cambridge Sustainable Food has created nutritional guidelines for use by community groups.
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough
The Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy sets out the aims of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Waste Partnership, in line with the Food Waste Hierarchy.
Greater Cambridge Shared Waste Partnership (City and South Cambridgeshire) has a free food waste collection for households (free kitchen caddies) and a separate commercial scheme. Food waste is composted in-vessel, with free compost for households and community organisations (CoFarm received 40 tonnes).
Council-commissioned Master Composter training provided in 2018 by Garden Organic.
Love Food Hate Waste event
Raising Awareness
City Council employs a Recycling Champions’ coordinator to promote recycling, using WRAP’s Love Food Hate Waste materials. Waste Management Park’s education department works with communities to promote recycling.
After working with local businesses using WRAP's 'Your Business is Food; don’t throw It away!' campaign, Cambridge Sustainable Food developed the business project Taste Not Waste. 10 businesses participated, saving an estimated 20.5 tonnes of food waste per annum, 6 businesses adopted food waste policies. Anglia Ruskin University catering ran a successful campaign 'Food Waste: Sort It Out!' (p4) with Cambridge Sustainable Food and the students’ union. Some Cambridge colleges also use food waste tracking tools. Chef's Eye, for example.
Cambridge Sustainable Food runs a food waste reduction campaign most years e.g. Love Food Hate Waste, Waste Less Save More, Pumpkin Festival, Feeding 1,000, Kids’ Disco Soup; Celebrity Chef Ready Steady Cook, Zero Waste Kitchen Challenge (Annual Report p8). Environment Networks at Cambridge Assessment and Cambridge University Press run Zero Waste Pop-Up Markets for staff.
Edge Community Café Fridge
Collection Schemes
Cambridge Food Hub runs the Green Coffee Shop Scheme, delivering local products to cafes, collecting caddies of coffee grounds (26 businesses pre-COVID) for recycling into BioBean coffee logs or to Waterland Organics as soil improver. Over 30 tonnes have been collected so far. They also ran a similar crisp-packet recycling scheme.
Cambridge-based company Better Origin is establishing a network of AI-powered insect mini-farms to recycle food waste into animal feed.
COGZ, Cambridge-based start-up, making surplus/imperfect produce available for purchase online directly from growers, reducing supply chain waste.
Redistribution
City Council funded Cambridge Sustainable Food to set up 4 Community Fridges, these are at present being used as the basis for the Community Food Hubs
Cambridge community organisations receive surplus food from Fareshare to distribute to people in need (City Food Bank’s Fairbite Food Club)
Volunteer-run Cambridge Foodcycle, cooks three healthy community meals every week for vulnerable people, using surplus food.