Approach

UCC BioGreen Cafe: Ireland's First Single Use Plastic Free Café

In September 2018, UCC Green Campus Committee, in collaboration with KSG (the university’s contracted food service provider) officially launched the Bio Green Café, Ireland’s first single-use plastic free café. It is a case study in how green procurement, stakeholder engagement and environmental awareness and education can contribute to bringing about a complete redesign in the provision of a service. Single-use plastic has been eliminated from all front- and back-of-house activities. The café was a major contributing factor to UCC being ranked number 1 University in the world for SDG 12: Sustainable Consumption and Production in the Times Higher Education Impact Ranking 2019.

Outcomes

• 80,000 disposable items avoided annually
• An Infinity Water System, which will enable glass bottle refills reducing the number of plastic bottles by 10,000 per year
• Ireland’s first single-use plastic free café

Key Learnings

• The success of the BioCafe has enormous replication potential. UCC Green Campus and KSG have hosted a number of visits to the café from other business and public sector organisations looking to replicate the approach taken here.
• Becoming a BioCafe has seen business increase in the cafe. It has become a “destination” café within the campus, with staff and students specifically organising meetings there.