The winning application focussed on themes of reducing food waste, community action, growing Bristol’s good food movement, buying better, urban growing, eating better and food equality. Examples of initiatives included in the successful bid were: Grow Wilder, an education centre and growing site empowering people the bring about positive change through sustainable food growing and wildlife-friendly practices in Stapleton; the efforts of the University of West of England and the University of Bristol to take action to transform institutional food culture, including sustainable sourcing, redistributing surplus food, plant-based menus and gardening projects; The Children’s Kitchen, a programme established across the city to explore eating and growing fresh produce with children; and FOOD Clubs, which are a partnership project between Family Action, Feeding Bristol and FareShare South West, with 16 clubs across the city providing nutritious food to families at a fraction of the normal cost.
Joy Carey, Director of Bristol Food Network, concludes: “This moment is one to be celebrated, but most definitely not an end point for us and all the other key stakeholders in this project. We’re gearing up to start work on the Bristol Good Food 2030 action plan, which will see a more joined up approach to tackling issues such as food insecurity, access to land for growing and food waste, as well as finding better ways to empower Bristolians to create a healthy, accessible and diverse food system fit for the next decade. It’s so important that this plan is framed around the real needs and hopes of our city’s people and communities, and that’s why we’re asking everyone to ‘Join the Conversation’ to share their vision for food in Bristol.”
Read all about the bid in the full submission document and also a shorter summary document, both available to download.
The University of Bristol have also recently won a Zero Waste Award in July recognised by the National Zero Waste Awards with a three star rating for sustainability initiatives around plastic reduction at Source Catering and reducing single-use packaging.
