The university has teamed up with Too Good To Go to tackle food waste.

Every day, unsold fresh food goes to waste at cafes on our campuses. Whilst this waste is minimal, it adds up over time and now is instead being offered to staff and students at a discounted price.

Globally more than one third of all food produced is wasted. This is a staggering environmental problem. If food waste were a country it would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, behind the US and China. Climate experts agree that reducing food waste is one of the most important things we can do to address global warming.

That’s where Too Good To Go comes in. This app lets students and staff buy food that would otherwise go to waste at a great price. For every ‘Magic Bag’ of food rescued through the Too Good To Go app, we’re helping to save 2.5kg CO2e.

You won’t know exactly what’s in your Magic Bag until you pick it up – it’s all part of the surprise – but we aim to include £12-£15 of RSP goods and sell these bags at £4.

How does it work?

To get started download the Too Good To Go app for free. Once your registered you will see all the outlets local to you that are signed up. Then simply purchase a Magic Bag through the app and collect it within the allotted collection window.

At the university, collections are available at:

1. Coates café
2. Hipps Café QMC
3. Hallward Library
4. Hemsley
5. George Green Library

We are also working to roll this out at Sutton Bonington, Jubilee and other cafes across our campuses.

Be aware that there are currently no options to select specialist diets – it is an app based program to reduce food waste rather than a menu selector program.

After a month of being trialled, the university has saved 96 Magic Bags. This is equal to 240kg of CO2e, enough to charge a smartphone from 0 – 100% 42,480 times.

Find out more

During Food Waste Action Week (7 – 13 March) we are hosting a webinar and Q&A with Too Good To Go for you to find out more. Learn more about Too Good To Go at the university, how it works, and why food waste is such a big environmental issue.

Join in 12pm – 12.30pm, Thursday 10 March on Teams.