Wednesday 17-07-2019 - 11:34

From Soil to Shelf is a new initiative between the Student Union's Central Store and Edible Campus that brings student-grown produce to your corner shop! Grown down at the EcoHub and transported around 250 metres to Pendle College, this produce has one of the smallest carbon footprints around.

As part of the students' union, Central is always looking to support student-run enterprises and initiatives, as well as constantly looking for new ways to reduce our environmental impact and promote sustainable living. From providing the fresh vegetables for Bite Club to involving Precious Plastics Lancaster in our in-store plastic bag recycling scheme, but now we’re taking it to the next level!

Over the past year, we’ve been working with the EcoHub and Edible Campus projects, supporting them in becoming a fully-fledged food business.

Whilst you may be familiar with Edible Campus’ market stall, we’re taking them on as an official supplier to Central. That means you can buy fresh, organic fruit and vegetables grown by students, picked by students, packaged and sold by students in your very own student union store!

We’re starting small with a selection of seasonal berries (with limited availability) but watch this space as we’re hoping to stock more and more student grown fruit and vegetables in time for the new academic year!

Reducing the distance your food travels from farm to fork (also known as food miles) is a really simple way to drastically reduce your carbon footprint. By buying local produce (especially campus grown goods!) you eliminate thousands of tonnes of carbon spent transporting your food and enjoy the freshest food possible.

You can calculate your food miles and carbon footprint using these free and handy tools.