Sustainable retail

Sustainable Retail Framework

The Sustainable Retail framework has been created to support and encourage RMIT retailers towards becoming more sustainable in their day-to-day operations.

Participating RMIT retailers have up to 20 environmental or social sustainability initiatives they can implement and are awarded a bronze, silver or gold rating depending on the number of sustainability initiatives they have achieved.

See the 20 sustainable retail initiatives here:

Food servced takes into account cultural and religious dietary requirements	At least three waste streams present in back of house areas	Provide dine-in option for customers	Participate in the trial of coffee cup and container leasing model	Serve plastic-free cutlery and takeaway containers
Review portion sizes and implement strategy to minimise food waste	Eductate customers on sustainability initiatives through various communication channels	Serve free drinking water to customers	Serve vegetarian and vegan meals daily	Increase the proportion of vegetable dishes and purchase only high welfare meat
Provide discounts to customers that BYO containers and coffee cups	Purchase products from local or fair trade suppliers	Participate in sustainability events throughout the year	Participate in the rollout of food and organics waste collection	Phase out single-use straws and plastic bags
Partner with local food banks to donate excess food	Drive social outcomes by offering student opportunities or supporting social enterprise	Phase out single-use plastic drink bottles	Develop menus which use seasonal fruit and vegetables	Phase out single-use coffee cups

Food servced takes into account cultural and religious dietary requirements	At least three waste streams present in back of house areas	Provide dine-in option for customers	Participate in the trial of coffee cup and container leasing model	Serve plastic-free cutlery and takeaway containers
Review portion sizes and implement strategy to minimise food waste	Eductate customers on sustainability initiatives through various communication channels	Serve free drinking water to customers	Serve vegetarian and vegan meals daily	Increase the proportion of vegetable dishes and purchase only high welfare meat
Provide discounts to customers that BYO containers and coffee cups	Purchase products from local or fair trade suppliers	Participate in sustainability events throughout the year	Participate in the rollout of food and organics waste collection	Phase out single-use straws and plastic bags
Partner with local food banks to donate excess food	Drive social outcomes by offering student opportunities or supporting social enterprise	Phase out single-use plastic drink bottles	Develop menus which use seasonal fruit and vegetables	Phase out single-use coffee cups

Note: You can also view the above table via 20 sustainability initiatives (PDF 60 KB).

The ratings can be found displayed on-campus to promote RMIT retailers sustainability initiatives and to help staff and students make sustainable choices when dining on campus.

In January 2020, the RMIT Sustainability team assessed and awarded the sustainability performance of 11 RMIT retailers. The rating achieved by each retailer are:

Gold Ratings

Little Bang - Building 12, Level 2
Oxford Scholar - Building 81
Standing Room - Building 12, Level 4
Siddon's Lounge - Building 202, Level 2
Streat - Garden Building on Bowen Street
The Bean Project - Building 80, Level 2

Silver Ratings

Nuts About Tella - Building 12, Level 4
Pearsons & Murphy - Building 1 Level 1

Bronze Ratings

Cafe@57 - Building 57 Level 4
Kaki Lima - Building 80 (Stewart Street)
Holy Guacamole - Building 12, Level 4

To find out more about our campus cafes, visit the Campus faciliites web page.