January 28, 2022
Bulletin interne de l'Institut Pasteur
2021 sustainable development challenge: the latest on the "Reducing the carbon footprint of restaurants on campus" proposal and news about the 2022 challenge
Following the sustainable development challenge that ran from May 17 to June 23, 2021, in which staff were invited to submit posters containing ideas, suggestions or projects related to sustainable development on the Institut Pasteur campus, the two winning proposals have undergone tests and feasibility studies organized by the Sustainable Development Department:
• "A coffee from the boss!," proposed by Philippe Casanova in the "Consumption habits" category, was the first project to be tested back in November during the European Week for Waste Reduction, as we reported in the December 10 issue of the newsletter.
• "Reducing the carbon footprint of restaurants on campus," proposed by Nell Saunders in the "Working life" category, will enable the Institut Pasteur to go further in 2022 in its efforts to reduce the waste associated with meals and hot drinks consumed on campus.
Here is a summary of existing measures to reduce waste associated with the consumption of meals and hot drinks on campus:
• Since 2014, organic waste (< 7 tons/year) produced by the restaurants on campus and the remains of meals left on plates have been dehydrated on campus and then turned into compost by a service off campus. It is worth pointing out that for this process to work as efficiently as possible, only food waste should be left on plates. Other waste should be disposed of at the recycling stations located by the dining hall exit and in the "Bien'fait" and "The 25" cafeterias.
• This waste is collected by the Waste, Sterilization and Premises Maintenance Department .
• The waste produced in the canteen and the cafeterias (229,109 meals served in 2021) has also been reduced by the introduction of paperless receipts. You can opt into this scheme by using the Foodi application or by going to the website https://www.foodi.fr.
• The bean-to-cup coffee machines in the cafeterias (97,703 hot drinks distributed in 2021) and the Distriplus drinks dispensers (61,040 drinks dispensed in 2021) accept cups, mugs and small flasks: you can bring your own to avoid using disposable cups.
And here is what is new for 2022, as suggested by Nell Saunders in her proposal "Reducing the carbon footprint of restaurants on campus":
When the weather is fine and/or as a result of hygiene and distancing measures, fewer people eat in and there is a preference for takeaway options. This leads to a rise in single-use, disposable container waste.
Individual reusable containers are now accepted at all counters in the canteen. You can bring your own container, in the size and material of your choice (see photo for one of many possible options), if you want to purchase any of the dishes offered in the canteen (pasta, hot meals, quiches, etc.) to take away. Simply bring along your clean container, place it on the counter and ask for your meal to be served in it.
One step further:
Using your own cloth napkin is a sustainable, renewable alternative to the paper napkins distributed and thrown away with each meal.
You can see all the posters submitted to the sustainable development challenge here.
The sustainable development challenge will be held again in 2022
The Sustainable Development Department would like to run this competition again in 2022, so you can already start preparing your ideas for your next poster. If you have any questions about this new challenge: challengeDD2022@pasteur.fr.
Link to the dedicated Webcampus page
To contact the Sustainable Development Department: campus-vert@pasteur.fr