Regen On Purpose
Regen on Purpose is a podcast for leaders who sense that sustainability alone isn’t enough.
Hosted by Karen Gray, the podcast explores what it really takes to move from sustainability to regeneration designing and delivering systems that become healthier over time.
Drawing on three decades of experience in delivery leadership, people development, and transformation, each episode looks at why change often struggles to hold, and how leadership decisions, delivery choices, and learning environments shape long-term outcomes.
This is a space for thoughtful conversations about building what lasts for people, organisations, and the planet without hype, jargon, or quick fixes.
Regen On Purpose
Episode 7 - When Sustainability Meets Reality
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Lessons from Highlands College Café, Jersey
In This Episode of Regen on Purpose, Karen Gray introduced a project at Highlands College in Jersey that replaced single-use takeaway packaging with compostable alternatives.
Seven years later, she reconnects with Chef Patrick Hoggs, who runs the college café, to explore what happened next. Together they discuss what worked, the operational challenges behind maintaining sustainable initiatives, and why good environmental ideas often struggle in real-world settings.
This episode offers practical insights for leaders and organisations trying to move sustainability from pilot projects into lasting change.
What happens when sustainability stops being a project and just becomes the way you do things? Back in twenty eighteen, Highlands College here in Jersey made a decision to move their cafe, Cafe Connect away from single-use plastic takeaway items into compostable plant-based packaging. Now on the surface of that worked over the years, it's replaced hundreds of thousands of plastic items. But it's also revealed something else. The real challenges of making sustainability work day-to-day. So in this episode, I wanted to come back and explore what's actually happened on the ground inside Cafe Connect at Highlands College. What worked, what didn't, and what it really takes to make something like this last. I'm joined by the chef Patrick Hodge, who's been part of this from the very beginning. Patrick, it's great to have you here. Let's dive in. So back in 2018, we started, converted, and we've moved forward. So you're still using all the same products?
SPEAKER_00We are still 100%.
SPEAKER_01100%, yeah.
SPEAKER_00100%. We are 100% uh vegware. Cool. We don't yeah, everything, every all of our disposal is now compostable. We did have an issue temporarily on our um sealable packaging.
SPEAKER_01Oh right, okay.
SPEAKER_00It was just it was just because the products we couldn't seal it in the uh the old fashioned way or take a little bit longer, so we sealed it and cut it and then we just changed that over. Um the uh the only issue we do have is uh is labelling of products like our sandwiches and our wraps. Because um the labels require so much information.
SPEAKER_01Okay. So are they printers?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we print them. Oh, you print them here, okay. So it's we haven't been able to get a product that we can print ourselves that are compost.
SPEAKER_01Oh right, okay.
SPEAKER_00So you're still using we still use the same, we still use the same label, but that that that's it. It's really one of those, it's just for uh for us, we don't we we we are fully aware that nothing here gets compost. So if we the only way we're reducing is by reducing the amount of plastic that's being but that's amazing though, it's most if it's huge, we'll talk about the numbers, but that's amazing. It is um but apart from that, we've just I've made sure that we have committed to carry on with the bed wear, which because we were obviously we were you yourself was doing the the deliveries and then we moved over to Samandis and then Samandis shut down, and then we moved over to uh Valley Food.
SPEAKER_01Oh Valley Food doing it for you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, Valley Food is doing it for us right now. We've got like four supplies. I try and keep my supplies set at about three. Okay, only because it just dilutes, and I've got so many people I need contact to just make sure everybody needs the same price, and yeah, and the prices are similar. Gone up. I can understand that the cost of shipping, the cost of everything.
SPEAKER_01Everything's gone up, yeah. Yeah, and it's you've increased your prices slightly then, I guess, too. Restricted.
SPEAKER_00We are restricted each year to put our prices up by a maximum of 2.5%, unless we can get authorization from the from the board of governments. This year we've already told we can put our prices up in September to five percent. Oh wow, that's clear, that's crazy, and we did the same last year, but understand that some of our prices go up by 12%. Okay, yeah, okay. And then even things like our starving costs, our staffing costs have gone up by 3.9%, but that's annually, that's what we're waiting to happens. Yeah, but if we're only pushing our prices up by five percent, our food costs like this this year we've seen the price go up on um all the meat, so we're strict by where the suppliers get it from because again, it has to be the correct price.
SPEAKER_01Your suppliers low local because they're all day.
SPEAKER_00But they supply everything we need. We've got a huge backstock of vegware. It was quite interesting. Uh David from Vegware came over and had a conversation. Okay, well that's I said that we had a huge backlog from semandards because obviously, when you were doing vegware, we carried on with doing big bulk boards to keep the prices lower.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I remember that.
SPEAKER_00Uh we had the we had an issue because obviously vegware originally had the imitation kind of plastic.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yeah, yeah, which was great.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but now they're no longer allowed to sell it because it there was an issue with it being too similar to plastic, but it was I don't know the ins and outs of that thing. But the uh the amount of people that have the the neurodiversity struggle with the the either the paper or the wooden forks.
SPEAKER_01Oh, okay, that's interesting.
SPEAKER_00They struggle with the texture in their mouths. So we have that issue, but there's not much we can do about that. Yeah, we try with we have a few customers that will come and ask us for the metal cutlery that we do.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, oh okay. That's interesting. Small percentage things. Oh, yeah, very small percentage. But still, okay.
SPEAKER_00There's still enough to uh to make sure we're supporting everybody.
SPEAKER_01Oh, okay. There's things you don't think about, these little nuances they are shallow.
SPEAKER_00They are shallow, yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's how they're manufactured.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I suppose you can only get so many so much shape of a piece of wood or bamboo made out of these.
SPEAKER_01I think it's bamboo. Yeah. Oh, okay. Because of the PLA, which was the corn before. So I think the laws changed, especially in Europe, and they provide a lot to Europe. And the your the laws in the UK, so not so much here because we don't have the same laws. And it they weren't allowed to sell it anymore. That's why it changed. Because how they look, but also the the substance they said that can't be degraded.
SPEAKER_00Lids are exactly the same.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, lids are softer, and the other ones were harder to decompost. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So it's still compost.
SPEAKER_01It's still compostable, absolutely. And it's harder and it takes a bit longer, but it's still compostable. I think those are bamboo, though. Bamboo grows quicker. I think we'll do hemp next.
SPEAKER_00Ten years ago, plastic was the issue. But when baker light first came out, that was the miracle product. It's kind of everything's the miracle product until they find out it's bad.
SPEAKER_01I think the bamboo just grows quicker and then the offshoot. It replenishes, yeah. Yeah, and and then the the bar product can do and use it for something else. So I think it's a little bit better than the trees they cut down. But you know, if as long as it works, it looks good. No, I don't think it makes it such a good story. It's incredible.
SPEAKER_00I think that's my way of looking at it. Is it it had to be the only option?
SPEAKER_01Why was it the only option? Well, like I guess it's reducing the plastic, wasn't it? Well, I'll see, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Because I personally saw the amount of plastic that was that we were going through with the polystyrene containers. So it's a no-brainer, really. Obviously, it does have an impact on our on our bottom line, but I think we as a society need to accept that.
SPEAKER_01And the figures, um, so I think the last time we calculated from 2028 to 2019, 18-month period, we looked you saved. Yeah, I was just supporting you. 250,000 items. So I guess from then to now, have you calculated any numbers? Oh I haven't um do you do you order regularly every month the same amount?
SPEAKER_00This is this is it because we have this huge backlog.
SPEAKER_01Oh, right, so you still got stuff. So if you can give me some summaries, I'll calculate the numbers for you and linking it with SD um SGDs and also ESDs because I I think no one else on the island has ever done this. So, Patrick, you pro vote to you because you kept it going.
SPEAKER_00I I know most of the the schools are either vegware or environment. I don't know to what extent or how long they've been doing it for, but I know they have.
SPEAKER_01But not to your scale though. So you haven't got any are they compostable?
SPEAKER_00Yes. Oh, good, okay.
SPEAKER_01That's good.
SPEAKER_00But they weren't, but now now they are. Now we've moved on to one that's okay. I would give you a rough estimate of about 150,000 disposable products would have gone through the cafe. We're about 165,000 average products, okay. Disposable products that we would have that would have gone through here instead of being plastic canal, the crop vostables. Yeah, the only year that it would have been different is 2020 would have been different. 2020 would have been different, but I would have said you probably would be less closer to 100,000 products.
SPEAKER_01So just to summarise, since 2018 through to 2025, Cafe Connect has replaced around 1.2 million single-use plastic takeaway containers. That's incredible impact and it's still ongoing. Chef Patrick, it's been great catching up. And I'm looking forward to what we do next. Thanks for tuning in. And if you found this useful, make sure to like, follow, and subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next.