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Climate Ambassadors

Funded by the DfE, Climate Ambassadors match volunteer climate experts with education settings.

Let’s Go Zero Climate Action Advisors

Part of Let’s Go Zero, Climate Action Advisors are independent experts who offer free support for schools, colleges, and nurseries across England.

Identify some food waste quick wins

Once you have identified some food waste hotspots through collaboration with your catering staff and suppliers, you should choose to progress any easy, low-cost actions that can deliver immediate or near-term benefits. As they require minimal planning or investment, it makes them a great starting point for settings with limited time and budget. They can also lay the foundation for more comprehensive, long-term environmental initiatives.

By taking this action, you can avoid the unnecessary costs associated with food that never gets eaten, and lower waste disposal costs, while actively reducing your carbon footprint. It can also help to improve the health and wellbeing of your staff and learners. Unmanaged food portions can lead to over-serving, which may contribute to unhealthy eating habits.

Examples of quick wins could include smaller meals, tasting stations, tracking food waste, creating competitions and educational campaigns to increase awareness, involving parents and learners (as appropriate) in menu planning, reorganising food serving lines, and engaging with food donation programmes.

Food can evoke strong emotions, so it's important to engage parents and learners (where appropriate) before agreeing which actions to take. This will also create fantastic learning opportunities on the topic of food waste and sustainability for your whole setting.

This is a crucial step in encouraging a culture of responsible food management across staff and learners. By taking this approach you can demonstrate progress which can motivate and inspire your community, and will help to gain leadership buy-in for future initiatives.

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Long term action

Relevant to

  • Early years
  • Primary
  • Secondary
  • Further education
  • Higher education