Every year, TU/e's Green Week promises to show that sustainability is not a distant ideal but a concrete part of daily campus life. It’s a worthy ambition. But this year, as food truck operators at Laplaceplein, we found ourselves in a situation that raises an uncomfortable question: does Green Week also make space for the sustainability that is already part of daily campus life?

We were invited to participate in the week’s vegan food promotions, with visibility across Instagram, WhatsApp, the Green Week website, and the FoodCity app. We said yes. But when we proposed joining from our regular location at Laplaceplein, where students and staff find us throughout the year, we were told that was not possible. Participation required relocating to the central Green Week area near Atlas.

We understand that events need a focal point. Organisers have logistics to manage, and we hold no grievance against anyone involved. But the underlying logic is worth examining. One of our kitchens runs partly on solar-powered energy. We offer vegan and more sustainable options as part of our standard menu, not as a themed exception. 

We are not visiting campus for one special week. We are already there, embedded in the daily food system of the university, serving the same students that Green Week hopes to reach.

The result of the current setup is that temporary presence near Atlas gets promoted as sustainable innovation, while existing sustainable infrastructure at the edges of campus stays invisible. That is not a criticism of ambition. It is a question about consistency.

If Green Week is serious about making sustainability part of everyday campus life, it seems worth asking: why limit the spotlight to what is new and centrally located? The food trucks at Laplaceplein are not a project or a pilot. They are already part of the answer Green Week is looking for.

Sustainability on campus will not be built in one themed week. It will be built by recognising and reinforcing what is already working, day in and day out, across the whole of campus. Green Week could be the moment to make that visible. This year, it was not.