Uniworld Boutique River Cruises announced new vegan and vegetarian menu options for sustainable dining as well as a Leanpath food waste reduction system on every ship across their fleet starting at the end of this month, according to a press release.
“Earth Month and every month, sustainable practices are always top of mind for us at Uniworld,” says Julie Higgins, Sustainability Officer at Uniworld Boutique River Cruises. “We’re proud to expand our sustainable food choices and best practices across the fleet, starting with inventive new vegan and vegetarian menus. We’re crossing the finish line with our food waste elimination system installations fleet-wide and have followed through with our promise to remove SUPs from our ships with the removal of all plastics from our guest rooms. Great strides are being made as we work to have a positive impact on our beautiful planet.”
The efforts are part of Uniworld’s larger sustainability strategy, “How We Tread Right.”
The company’s sustainability plan includes 11 measurable goals including reducing 50 percent of food waste by 2025, eliminating single-use plastics, and achieving net zero by 2050.
Uniworld’s new vegan and vegetarian menu will include dishes such as jambalaya, chicken curry, tempura vegetables with soy sauce and maple syrup, sweet potato and tofu stew, rice paper rolls, pesto pasta, eggplant steak and more.
Regarding food waste reduction, Uniworld plans on implementing Leanpath solutions on every ship in its fleet by the end of April 2023. The system helps improve kitchen efficiency and reduce food waste thanks to an automated food waste tracking system. The company first implemented Leanpath in 2021 and has prevented 13,156kg of food waste from occurring since then. This translates to avoiding nearly 100 tones of carbon from being emitted across six ships.
Additionally, Uniworld’s rooms and suites are entirely free of single-use plastics as the company gifts reusable water bottles to all guests. There are also refillable Asprey pumps in every bathroom, containing lotion, soap, shampoo, conditioner and body wash, without individual containers for each product. Uniworld has also switched to bamboo room key cards and reusable laundry bags in the rooms.
