What would you like the Union to do?

Food waste remains a pressing issue on campus, with unsold food from Students’ Union (SU) cafés and catering outlets often going unused despite the strong efforts already made to minimise surplus and support redistribution initiatives. Volunteer-led networks such as Zero Food Waste (ZFW) and the Food Waste Task Force (FWTF) have built upon these efforts to ensure that as much food as possible is redistributed safely and responsibly. However, the current system still depends heavily on student volunteers collecting food late in the evening, limiting efficiency, increasing workload, and risking burnout among volunteers.

To strengthen its climate and sustainability commitments, improve operational efficiency, and uphold its duty of care to students, the Union should adopt a Zero Edible Food Waste Policy. This policy embeds food redistribution as a formal operational responsibility of the Union, ensuring that no safely consumable food goes to waste and that the process is transparent, fair and sustainable.

Accordingly, the Union should uphold its environmental responsibility by:

  • Transitioning to an institutionally managed redistribution system:

The Union resolves that food redistribution should be a core operational function, moving away from reliance on volunteer labour. To achieve this, the Union mandates the SU President (supported by the Sustainability Officer) to submit a formal proposal to the Board of Trustees and Senior Management to transition food redistribution to a staff-led model.

This proposal shall advocate for a system where all unsold, safely consumable food items from Union-operated outlets are included in the redistribution process. The SU President must consult with the FWTF during the development of this proposal to incorporate student-led insights and review the system’s effectiveness. This change strengthens and formalises the Union’s commitment to sustainability as a shared institutional responsibility.

  • Establish a permanent, consistent redistribution mechanism:

The proposal to the Board of Trustees must include a plan to implement a reliable method for redistributing surplus food. Potential models to be presented include:

  1. A system where the Union ensures surplus food is transported to redistribution partners (ie. food redistribution organisations such as the following local food banks: St Mungo's Endsleigh Gardens; Lifeafterhummus Community Benefit Society; as well as shelters and community kitchens) immediately following closing shifts.
     
  2. A permanent, centralised on-campus donation point such as a community fridge or collection hub located in a suitable location accessible to all students, initially supported by ZFW, which has found funding for its implementation. The proposal should advocate for the final model to be selected and implemented within eight weeks of Trustee approval, following consultation with the FWTF and ZFW.
  • To reduce food waste a closing-time discount pricing model should be maintained:

To minimise waste at the source, the Union should commit to maintaining a significant discount pricing model (ie. aiming for an ‘at-cost’ price) for perishable food items near closing times. This system should prioritise student affordability while ensuring surplus food is consumed. Crucially, this model must operate alongside the redistribution procedures, ensuring that items remaining unsold after the discount period are immediately redistributed rather than discarded.

  • Ensure transparency and reporting:

The SU President supported by the Sustainability Officer shall ensure a robust system is established to record donation data (volume, type, recipient). This data must be compiled monthly to track progress against the Zero Food Waste target. To promote transparency, this data must be shared with the Food Waste Task Force to support their monitoring and made available to any student or staff member upon request.

  • Ensure compliance with food hygiene standards:

The Union must ensure that the redistribution system operates in full compliance with food safety standards and The Separation of Waste (England) Regulations 2024. This includes ensuring that appropriate training, resources, and protocols are provided to all personnel involved to guarantee the safe handling of donated items. The Union must enforce a standard where all edible food fit for human consumption is donated; if edible food fails to be donated, it must be formally logged as food waste to track and remedy inefficiencies in the system.

  1. Consult with Zero Food Waste (ZFW) and the Food Waste Task Force (FWTF) to ensure a smooth transition:
  2. The SU President supported by the Sustainability Officer shall lead the implementation of this policy, serving as the primary point of contact.
  3. The SU President shall consistently consult with ZFW and FWTF to ensure a smooth transition and no lapse in donation partnerships, consulting with students ensuring their voices remain involved in decision-making.
  4. The SU President shall schedule and attend a formal meeting with representatives of ZFW and the FWTF at a minimum of once per month. These meetings will serve to review the status of the proposal to the Board of Trustees, discuss operational progress, and address any arising issues.
     
  5. The SU President must include regular updates on the implementation progress and monthly food waste data in their Officer Reports submitted to Union Zones and the Union Executive for scrutiny.

Accountability:

  1. Weekly Progress Updates: The SU President should provide the FWTF with written progress updates every week during the handover period.
  2. Meeting Minutes: All consultation meetings with ZFW and FWTF must have minutes recorded and shared within 48 hours with all parties.
  3. Handover Checklist: Developed in partnership with ZFW and FWTF, and reported to the Welfare and Community Zone.
  4. Point of Contact: The Union must designate a consistent point of contact for all queries or issues arising during the handover.
  5. Monitoring & Reporting: The FWTF will monitor the transition and submit a final report confirming that no lapse in food donations or redistribution partnerships occurred.

This consultation must focus on preventing any lapse in food donation during the handover period and maintaining existing partnerships with redistribution organisations. Consultation should conclude within two weeks of this motion’s approval, with written confirmation of agreed procedures and responsibilities sent to the FWTF. The Union must share a summary of the plan and outcomes on its social media within one month of the motion passing.

 Why would you like to do this?

The current food donation system depends heavily on ZFW student volunteers, who collected and redistributed over 6,000 UCL food items during the 2024-25 academic year. Despite this success, the system is labour intensive, often requires volunteers to operate late into the evening, and remains limited by their availability and transport capacity. Even though SU outlets may not produce large quantities of surplus food individually, ZFW volunteers must still visit each outlet daily, meaning that the effort required remains significant regardless of the volume collected. Much of this burden falls on committed students who already balance academic and personal responsibilities.

By shifting responsibility to a staff-led system, the Union recognises that the prevention of food waste is an institutional responsibility, not a student obligation. This transition ensures a fairer and more sustainable approach that aligns with the Union’s values of environmental stewardship and social responsibility. It will also enable students to redirect their time toward education, awareness, and leadership initiatives, areas where they can create long-term impact rather than managing the daily logistics of redistribution.

  • Empowering students through systemic change:

This motion redefines sustainability as a structural commitment rather than a volunteer task. The FWTF will continue to lead awareness campaigns and workshops on sustainable food systems, giving students the opportunity to learn, innovate, and advocate without bearing the operational burden of collection and redistribution.

  • Improving operational efficiency and fairness:

Embedding donation duties within the Union recognises the value of labour and ensures consistency in practice. Students in ZFW and the FWTF can then focus on research, outreach, and education, contributing to UCL’s wider sustainability ecosystem while no longer performing unpaid work that should fall under institutional responsibility.

  • Strengthening sustainability, affordability, and community impact:

A Zero Edible Food Waste Policy ensures that no safely consumable food produced by the SU ends up being thrown away. It advances SU’s climate and social responsibility goals while supporting local communities and reducing the financial burden of food insecurity. Furthermore, a community fridge model promotes accessibility and equity on campus, allowing students to directly benefit from surplus food in a safe and transparent manner. By leading through example, the SU can also encourage UCL to adopt similar practices across its catering operations, helping to create a more cohesive, institution-wide approach to food sustainability.

Students can also purchase food at SU outlets knowing that their money supports a genuinely sustainable model, one where no edible food is wasted and every item contributes to a circular, ethical system.

  • Strengthening long-term climate action through student leadership:

By embedding the FWTF’s work structurally into SU food operations, this policy ensures that student leadership and sustainability remain at the heart of the Union. It positions the SU as a climate-conscious institution that leads by example, transforming sustainability from a series of volunteer projects into a lasting, operational standard. Through ongoing collaboration with SU staff the FWTF will continue to evaluate the system’s effectiveness and contribute to improvement in the Union’s environmental strategy.

Passing this motion ensures that the Union remains true to its commitments to climate responsibility, ethical operations, and student empowerment.