There is no universal policy for how UBC, the AMS and other food outlets on campus spend money collected from the fee on single-use items.
UBC Food Services doesn't separate the fee from its collected revenues, while the AMS uses the money to purchase more single-use items.
As of January 2022, many food and beverage establishments on campus began charging a 25 cent fee for single-use coffee cups and a 15 cent fee for single-use paper bags as part of the Zero Waste Food Ware Strategy.
Vancouver implemented a single-use item fee at the same time — UBC does not need to abide by it as it is outside city limits in the University Endowment Lands — although recently-elected Mayor Ken Sim has indicated plans to eliminate this fee.
“The fees are captured in [UBC's] general revenues,” Colin Moore, director of UBC Food Services, said in an interview with The Ubyssey.
“Any surplus from our revenue currently just goes to support the overall deficit — our business is in a significant deficit position after the pandemic — but generally speaking, if there is a surplus in our business, it goes back to UBC.”
Moore explained that the fee is not directed towards a specific sustainability initiative because UBC's approach to sustainability is more comprehensive.
“We spend a lot of time and money and resources on sustainability at UBC,” Moore said. “We’re compliant with the Zero Waste Food Ware Strategy when it comes to food containers, plates, and bowls, and we’re leading in many [other sustainability] operations.”
In addition to leading and pioneering many elements of the Strategy, Moore said UBC is continuing to develop new initiatives to reduce waste such as a reusable container program.
The AMS, which is responsible for all operations in the Nest, initially told The Ubyssey it uses the money collected from the single-use item fee to purchase more single-use items.
“The money we collect from the fees are put back into the Food & Beverage food ware budget, which is used to purchase these single use items,” said Vishwa Mohan, AMS food and beverage manager, in a statement to The Ubyssey on Wednesday.
“The use of single use food ware is still high, but we are pleased to see an increase in the number of students bringing their own reusable cups and containers, a trend we hope to see a lot more of in the future.”
But, a statement made last year by the previous AMS Food and Beverage Manager said “money collected [from these fees] will be directed toward sustainability projects at the Nest.”
In a follow up email with The Ubyssey, the AMS said “[Mohan] will [now] donate the money collected from the fees to the AMS Food bank.”
Individual businesses on campus that have adopted the program have autonomy in how they use any revenue generated by the fees.
However, UBC “encourage[s] businesses to use revenue from single use item fees to offset any potentially increased costs associated with meeting other requirements in the Strategy, such as changing from plastic to compostable wood cutlery or implementing more reusable options for customers,” according to Bud Fraser, UBC’s Campus and Community Planning senior planning and sustainability engineer.
According to Fraser, there is no universal policy on how to use the fees because “from an overall policy perspective, each food business, whether part of UBC or outside, has different needs and opportunities and we don’t want to be overly prescriptive.”
Origins of Zero Waste Food Ware Strategy
UBC Campus Community and Planning created the Zero Waste Food Ware Strategy in consultation with UBC Food Services, the AMS and other independent food and beverage operations on campus.
The program is meant to “encourage the use of reusable food and beverage containers through fees on single-use items,” according to the program’s webpage.
Although first introduced in January 2020, the Zero Waste Food Ware Strategy was put on pause for two years to accommodate for safety measures taken on campus during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The program resumed implementation in January 2022 as operations around campus shifted back to pre-pandemic practices.