First vending machine with organic snacks set up

"Until now, there was Fairtrade chocolate in the vending machines on campus, but otherwise there were more standard snacks," says Luca Thomas, co-initiator of the new offer. He is studying sustainability and came up with the idea for the vending machine with sustainable snacks in the project module. The original idea came from the Students for Future group, of which Luca Thomas is also a member.

As early as 2021, a group of students got together and thought about how catering at the University of Bayreuth could be made even more sustainable.

Together with GreenCampus, the university's sustainability office, the "Sustainable Snack Vending Machine" has now been launched. This is intended to give students the opportunity to buy vegan, fair trade or plastic-free products outside of regular canteen and cafeteria hours. A six-month test phase has now begun together with the vending machine supplier Dallmayr. "Dallmayr provides the vending machine and also organises the filling, just like with the other vending machines at the university," Thomas explains. "The difference, however, is that our vending machine sells the products of Bayreuth's organic food shop Hollerbusch." The vending machine with the sustainable products is located on the 1st floor in the Mensa building directly next to the return machine for the coffee cups. The products are transported from the warehouse in Bindlach to the university with the "Klimadradl", a cargo bike that can be borrowed for free.

"The test phase must now show whether the products are also bought despite the higher price and whether the vending machine can finance itself," says Thomas. "In addition, it will also become clear which products are particularly popular and can perhaps be offered sporadically in other snack vending machines."

"We try to pay attention to all aspects of sustainability," says Thomas. "We therefore rely on certifications and seals. All the products in the vending machine are organic, many of them vegan and packaged without plastic." He adds that it is also important to consider three dimensions of sustainability: ecological, economic and social. Currently, the team is working on a poster that will be hung next to the snack vending machine, where it will show which product comes from where and which seal it has.

Contact:
Luca Thomas
Mail: luca.thomas@uni-bayreuth.de
Phone: 0176 53529589