Uniworld Boutique River Cruises Expands Sustainable Onboard Culinary Efforts. Luxury River Cruise Line Adds New Vegan and Vegetarian Menu Options, Implements Food Waste Elimination System Across Entire Fleet and More
Uniworld Boutique River Cruises announces new vegan and vegetarian menu options for more eco-conscious dining, and will have a Leanpath food waste reduction system on every ship across their fleet by the end of this month.
This is a part of Uniworld’s larger sustainability strategy, ‘How We Tread Right,’ overseen by Sustainability Officer, Julie Higgins. Uniworld’s sustainability plan consists of 11 measurable goals including reducing 50% of food waste by 2025, eliminating single-use plastics, achieving net zero by 2050 and offering guests experiences in the destinations they sail by allowing them to support local communities throughout their river cruising journey.
“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.”
Uniworld’s April 2023 sustainability updates include:
Vegan and Vegetarian Menus
Uniworld is now offering extensive vegan and vegetarian menus across the fleet, providing guests with all dietary needs and preferences a variety of delicious options throughout their cruise. Guests can enjoy vegan meals 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. Vegetarian menu choices include French braised artichoke with white wine and vegetables, butternut squash risotto, stuffed portobello mushrooms with zucchini spaghetti, ricotta stuffed zucchini rolls with tomato-basil salsa, crunchy quinoa balls with snow peas julienne and pesto sauce, noodle bowls with tofu and soft boiled eggs, falafel with pita bread and hummus and more.
Leanpath Progress
By some estimates, food waste is responsible for 6% of global greenhouse emissions. Uniworld has a formalized goal for eliminating food waste through its sustainability strategy, and in 2022, through its parent company The Travel Corporation, Uniworld became the only river cruise in the industry with near-term, long-term, and net zero targets validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). These targets are a critical step in their journey to achieve net zero emissions. In August 2021, Uniworld employed food waste reduction system Leanpath solutions, to improve kitchen efficiency and prevent food waste on a large scale through an automated food waste tracking system. By the end of April 2023, the system will be implemented across the entire Uniworld fleet. Since first implementing Leanpath, Uniworld has prevented 13,156kg of food waste from occurring, avoiding nearly 100 tonnes of carbon from being emitted across the six ships currently operating the system, as of December 2022.
Plastic Elimination
As of 2023, Uniworld’s rooms and suites are completely single-use plastic free, with reusable water bottles gifted to all guests. There are refillable Asprey pumps in every bathroom, which contain soap, lotion, shampoo, conditioner and body wash, instead of using individual containers for these products. The laundry bags found in-room are reusable and Uniworld has also implemented bamboo room key cards.
MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Onshore Experiences
Uniworld plans to offer MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences on at least 50% of itineraries by 2025, with three new offerings launching this year. In an ongoing commitment of conscious and sustainable travel, Uniworld has committed to MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® by transforming exploration into positive change. Uniworld offers MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences on itineraries throughout India, Europe and the Middle East. These experiences are carefully chosen against a robust set of criteria that are aligned with the United Nation’s Global Goals, allowing guests to positively engage and give back to the communities, wildlife and land in the destinations they visit.
The new Experiences in 2023 include a Chocolate Tour in Switzerland, a Cheese Tour in the Netherlands, and a Rotterdam, City of the Future experience that focuses on combating climate change in the Netherlands, complete with a visit to a floating farm, a circular beer brewery that helps feed its cows and more.
Travelers can view Uniworld’s sustainability progress through their Impact Report. Uniworld is the first river cruise line to publish an Impact Report, giving transparent insight into the positive impacts the brand has made relating to sustainable food production, travel experiences, responsible consumption, and more.
(Uniworld Boutique River Cruises)
