Zero Food Waste UCL

Zero Food Waste UCL is a student-led project, operated entirely by student leaders and dedicated volunteers. The project has redistributed 5,944 items in the 2024-25 academic year at UCL cafes.

The environmental footprint of food production and consumption is enormous. According to WRAP, it is responsible for around 30% of global carbon emissions, contributes to 60-80% of global biodiversity loss through degradation and removal of natural habitats and is responsible for 70% of global freshwater use. Despite this, a third of food produced globally, 1.3 billion tonnes, is wasted each year.  

At a more local level, Guardians of Grub estimate that on average, 18% of food purchased by the UK Hospitality and Food Service sector is wasted. With this in mind, we are currently working together with our caterers, Gather&Gather, to better measure how much food we are wasting at UCL, with our current target to be wasting no more than 5%. The priority for us is to first prevent food waste at its source, only ordering what is needed and not over-serving portions individually and during events.

Inevitably, there will always be a degree of imperfection and small percentages of food waste may go uneaten and so with the help of Zero Food Waste UCL we aim to facilitate the redistribution of leftover food items to good causes. This will help minimise the environmental footprint of our catering activities whilst benefiting local communities. 

Zero Food Waste is a Student-Led Project, operated entirely on a voluntary basis by student leaders and dedicated volunteers. The project has redistributed 5,944 items in the 2024-25 academic year at UCL cafes and retail locations alone. In addition, through working closely with Gather & Gather, Zero Food Waste has coordinated the safe redistribution of surplus food from Events@UCL catering, a first-of-its-kind in UCL. In addition, Zero Food Waste has organised a number of events seeking to reshape perspectives around food waste, featuring in a UCL Generation One Podcast and across the 28 Days of Sustainability.

As university, we are actively looking at ways that UCL can reduce or divert food waste – either by making sure that we don’t order too much food in the first place, or working to ensure that excess food can be given to those in our community who have need of it. Student volunteers currently work via Zero Food Waste UCL to redistribute excess food to food banks and homeless charities in the Bloomsbury area.

How you can get involved:

Students can sign up to volunteer with the Zero Food Waste project via their website and follow @zerofoodwasteucl on Instagram for more info. 

 

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