Procurement

Positive Procurement

At Swansea University we buy a wide range of goods and services ranging from stationery and research equipment to travel services and ICT.

Our purchasing decisions have important implications for sustainable development

We are conscious of the economic, social and environmental impacts of everything we buy and the services we use throughout their lifecycles.

For example:

A female student shopping for fresh fruit and veg

The raw material and manufacturing impacts of furniture or ICT, upon life on land and peace and justice
The climate impacts from transportation and delivery of goods or use of services
Waste and emissions from production and consumption of goods and services like those from food, consumables and our buildings
Community benefits from decent work and economic growth including quality education, zero hunger and affordable clean energy

That is why we are committed to positive purchasing. This means:

Removing or minimising the negative impacts and maximising the benefits, when we make the choice of whether to and what to buy, or what services to use
Working with our suppliers and service providers to reduce impacts and raise standards in a responsible manner

Sustainable Procurement Policy and Strategy

Swansea University's Sustainability and Procurement teams have joint sustainability strategy commitments to integrating positive procurement into our purchasing policy and arrangements following Sustainable Procurement guidance. Our Sustainable Procurement Policy outlines our requirements to embed sustainability, ethics, health and wellbeing in all aspects of our university purchasing.

Ethical Supply Chains

Here at Swansea University, we act responsibly to ensure our compliance with the Modern Slavery Act 2015. We are committed to working towards ensuring there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in our supply chains or in any part of our business. View our: Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement.

To ensure compliance and improve labour and environmental practices, we are affiliated with the following organisations and standards:

Fairtrade

FAIRTRADE IS ABOUT BETTER PRICES, DECENT WORKING CONDITIONS, LOCAL SUSTAINABILITY AND FAIR TERMS OF TRADE FOR FARMERS AND WORKERS IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD.

We were the first University in Wales to achieve Fairtrade status, with our most recent Fairtrade University Award being achieved in 2023. Our Catering contractor and University-run outlets have a firm commitment to sustainability, Fairtrade, and to local purchasing. Swansea University has committed funding and resources to be part of the cohort of Universities and Colleges aiming for Fairtrade status in the next assessment in 2025. This not only increases awareness to staff and students about the importance of Fairtrade, but also gives them opportunities to get involved with the project.

In the meantime, we continue to offer a great range of Fairtrade products in all our outlets and on the catering hospitality menu, as stated in our Sustainable Healthy Food Policy. In addition, our Sustainable Procurement Policy commits us to purchasing Fairtrade cotton for uniforms or clothing wherever practicable.

We support the Swansea Fairtrade Forum, a network of local groups, businesses and individuals committed to the principles of Fairtrade.

Electronics Watch

We were the first Welsh organisation to affiliate to Electronics Watch. Electronics Watch is an independent monitoring organisation that helps public sector buyers work together to ensure respect for labour rights and safety standards in factories that make the ICT hardware they buy. Electronics Watch operates as the “eyes and ears” on the ground for affiliates, working with a global network of qualified civil society monitors to detect, report, and address labour rights and safety problems in factories promptly and effectively. The Electronics Watch monitoring methodology helps us to become aware of possible labour rights and safety breaches in our supply chain, contribute to solutions, and use our procurement dynamically in accordance with our values as a university. Over the long term, Electronics Watch is helping us to contribute to more dignified workplaces in the electronics industry where workers have a strong voice and can help shape sustainable improvements.

Sustainable Ethical Investment and Banking

Through our investment portfolio Swansea University excludes investments in businesses whose primary activity is focused on alcohol, armaments, adult entertainment, gambling, tobacco or fossil fuels. View the University press release.

At Swansea University we have developed an Ethical Investment and Banking Policy and our Investment Subcommittee formally considers representations in relation to the ethical standing of any University investment.

If you would like more information about the University’s sustainable and ethical investment, please email us.

Sustainable Healthy Catering

At Swansea University, we strive to produce fresh, healthy and sustainable food that you can trust. Our Catering Services team use environmentally responsible, ethically sourced and local ingredients. We integrate health, wellbeing and sustainability criteria into our catering, as outlined in our Sustainable Healthy Food Policy. This is worked towards, and progress is tracked in regular sustainable catering meetings.

Sustainable Food Accreditations

In 2022, Swansea University achieved the Sustainable Restaurant Association Food Made Good 1 star rating, covering the majority of our catering outlets on campus, and we are working hard with Catering Services to increase this to 2 stars.

We also achieved the Fairtrade University Award in 2023, requiring action to embed ethical and sustainable practices through the curriculum, procurement, research and campaigns.

Zero Waste and Emissions

At Swansea University, our Catering contractor, Chartwells and Sustainability team work in partnership to prevent waste from our campus catering outlets. We achieve this in a number of ways:

We work closely with the University-based, volunteer-led charity Discovery, and community-based charity GoLeudy to distribute food that would have gone to waste, to students and staff at affordable costs to help reduce waste and food poverty.
Our catering outlets apply a discount on hot drink takeaways in a reusable cup.
We have switched to lower impact packaging, crockery and cutlery on our mission to cut out single use plastics.
We use segregated at source recycling bins at all our food outlets and throughout campus. You can find out more about our recycling facilities over on our waste pages.
Separate recycling bins are provided at our outlets, specifically for the collection and recycling of single use cups.
Our food waste is collected and sent for anaerobic digestion.
Tetra Pak recycling has been introduced on campus for catering outlets.
We have introduced a coffee ground scheme that encourages staff and students to take the used coffee grounds home for their gardens. What is left is used by our University grounds team.
A “Too Good To Go” scheme has been introduced at all of our outlets, with over 3,400 meals saved and 8,500kg of CO2 saved since 2021.
A social kitchen is soon to be opened, teaching staff and students about sustainable, healthy cooking and avoiding food waste.
Our campus fleet includes Zero Emission Vehicles.

Growing food on campus

Our campus growing project “Tyfu Tawe” backed by Community benefits funds and NUS Student Eats provides our community with space to learn about growing vegetables on campus. The benefits to mind, body and our environment from going your own are well known so please Get Involved with Tyfu Tawe.

In addition to Tyfu Tawe, The Sustainability Team have been working throughout 2021 to create and provide a community orchard for staff, students and visitors to enjoy. To date, a total of 28 fruit trees across both our campuses have been planted with the help of staff and students including apple, plum, pear, damson and fig trees. Funding for this project was a mix of allocated Sustainability University budget and the Welsh Circular Economy Fund.

Ben, our Biodiversity Officer has also been working with the project team and staff in IMPACT to develop and manage a living green wall. The living wall supports native species and is the pilot scheme to demonstrate how we can develop more living walls with sustainable food as a key component.