Sustainable food

Direction: Prioritize sustainably certified, local, equitable, and plant-based food systems

Waterloo serves tens of thousands of meals each day for students, employees, and visitors who live, study, and work on campus. Food consumption has large upstream impacts on ecosystems and biodiversity, water use, pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions, so the food choices made in dining halls and on menus are important.

Through the work of staff in Food Services, Waterloo continues to procure local and sustainably certified food products such as Marine Stewardship Council certified seafood and Fairtrade Certified coffee, tea, and chocolate. Longstanding partnerships with local vendors builds community resiliency and economic impact, while minimizing the distance that food travels to reach the University.

In 2025, Waterloo supported on-site food production with over 45 community garden plots on campus, creating meaningful opportunities for students and employees to connect with nature and improve food security.

Indicators

Paper bag with food line icon
39.8% food that is local, sustainably certified, and/or grown onsite

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Academic mission

Operational practice

Campus engagement

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Actions and accomplishments

Fairtrade display at annual Fair Trade event
Garden plots at V1 community garden

Historic actions and accomplishments

Actions from various departments and teams at Waterloo to advance this objective have included, but are not limited to:

2024

  • Developed preliminary estimates for the upstream greenhouse gas impacts of food served on campus
  • Achieved target of 40 per cent of all Food Services food and beverage purchased were produced on-site, locally, or are third-party certified for sustainability
  • Hosted a workshop on gardening as part of Organizational and Human Development’s “Keeping Well at Work” series

2023

  • Launched a Food Garden pilot project to support students and employees in growing food on campus
  •  Hosted a workshop on growing plants from seed at the annual Staff Conference

2022

  • Explored options for including environmental impacts on food labelling
  • Hosted a plant-focused chef cook off for the annual Fired Up at REV competition
  • UW Farm Market started again

2019

  • Hosted four major workshops collaboratively to connect healthy and sustainable food, including sessions on Healthy and Sustainable Food Choices, Growing Microgreens, and Reducing Food Waste, as well as providing a student-led virtual sustainable cooking show in residences
  • Began tracking plant-based purchases in their ordering system to enable better reporting and to analyze opportunities for supporting plant-based meals

2018

  • Continued to expand local food purchases
  • Began requiring MSC certification for all seafood purchases
  • Continued to increase Fair Trade certified coffee, tea, and chocolate options
  • Received official Fairtrade Campus
  • Expanded awareness around local food with the “Farm to Campus Fresh” branding effort
  • Hosted a zero-waste cooking show to educate students on how to minimize food waste
  • Hosted a plant-based cookoff event, pitting chefs against each other to prepare vegan and vegetarian meals that students were able to sample

2017

  • Held a vegan cooking show to educate participants on how to utilize seasonal produce to make flavourful, healthy, and low-impact meals
  • Hired a registered dietician to help develop, implement, and maintain nutritional programming
  • Relaunched FRSH, a fully vegan/vegetarian food outlet, in the BMH expansion
  • Launched a new vegan/vegetarian menu as part of the catering offerings for major events and meetings across campus
  • Facilitated a session on Healthy and Sustainable Food at the staff conference and Keeping Well at Work Day
  • Strengthened labelling and placement for vegan, vegetarian, and Fairtrade products to encourage sustainable choices
  • The Sustainability Office and Health Services facilitated a session on Healthy and Sustainable Food at the staff conference and Keeping Well at Work Day
  • Food Services began strengthening their labelling and placement for vegan, vegetarian, and Fairtrade products to encourage sustainable choices

An accessible version of this data can be downloaded here: Sustainable Food Purchasing (Excel)

Methodology - Sustainably sourced food

Boundary

All campuses, excluding Affiliated and Federated Institutions of Waterloo.

Methodology

Limitations and Exclusions: Does not include student-run coffee and donut shops, International News, or franchise locations.

Food categories: Local food purchases is based on the percentage of total food purchases that have the Foodland Ontario designation. Percentage is based on dollar value of the purchases between Food Services and the vendor. Note that this is different than the STARS definition of being within 250 miles, although there is a strong overlap since the majority of agricultural land in Ontario is within this limit.

Waterloo evaluates sustainably certified food as any food item that bears a credible 3rd party certification for environmental, social, and/or economic sustainability:

  • Fairtrade certified coffee, tea, and cocoa products, which help support farmers with sustainable livelihoods, promote community development, and protect ecosystems
  • Marine Stewardship Council certified seafood, which ensures fishing practices protect marine environments and avoid overfishing

Waterloo will monitor across its food going forward for other certification options, a comprehensive list of which are provided by the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System.

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