Interreg

The London university may have a long history – with 2025 marking its 175^th year – but it’s looking to the future when it comes to food. The university, in Twickenham, is committed to serving quality meals that are good for people and planet. It’s achieved bronze Food For Life Served Here certification (and has its sights set on silver).  It has signed up with Too Good To Go, the largest marketplace in the world for surplus food and from the autumn, it will partner with Notpla; sustainable seaweed packaging and Vytal; a re-usable cup and bowl scheme that will help to reduce waste going to landfill. 

Now it’s joined Cool Food Pro as well. St Mary’s signed up to Cool Food Pro in January 2025 after being introduced to the programme by Food for Life. Cool Food Pro encourages caterers to make carbon savings across five areas, by: going seasonal, buying local, purchasing less and better meat, reducing food and plastic waste, and buying organic. St Mary’s is working to improve in all these areas, particularly ‘going seasonal’.

The catering team at the university are now inputting data to Cool Food Pro’s “user friendly” calculator, to work out the carbon emissions their meals create and then reduce them. They add data from their two restaurants and a café, with most information coming from their largest restaurant where the greatest amount of food is served. Results largely cover plate waste, plus leftover food from the hot counter in the restaurant.

The amount of food and number of customers served is different every month at St Mary’s, with 5-6,000 students and around 600 staff on campus during term time but fewer during university holidays. Because of this, the university plans to gather year-on-year results, rather than comparing results month-on-month. Results will be shared in the team’s Sustainable Food Policy, to evidence its good work.

In the future, St Mary’s may widen its use of Cool Food Pro to the events it caters for. With the university expanding – a medical school is opening next year – more healthy and sustainable food is set to be served to a growing number of students, staff and the wider community.