Calculator login
Portal login
Hutchison are educating the next generation on food waste
Nine primary schools took part in a week-long pilot study, organised by Hutchison Catering Ltd, to measure kitchen surplus and plate waste and to train the catering staff and school community on the importance of reducing food waste.
In July, nine primary schools took part in a week-long pilot study, organised by Hutchison Catering Ltd, to measure kitchen surplus and plate waste and to train the catering staff and school community on the importance of reducing food waste.
One of the pilot sites, Skelton Primary School is a small school serving 60-65 meals per day, usually a hot main dish, vegetarian main dish, jacket potatoes and desserts, plus a salad bar.
As part of the pilot, their catering manager weighed spoilage, kitchen surplus and plate waste at the school across five lunch times. After Hutchison Catering input the data into Cool Food Pro carbon calculator, they discovered that kitchen food waste averaged 2kg per day whilst 4kg a day came from plate waste. The day-to-day amounts varied depending on what was on the menu, with jacket potatoes and rice the main contributors to cooked surplus food in the kitchen. Jacket potato skins, cooked vegetables and salad were the main plate waste. This information was shared in school assemblies and newsletters to raise awareness with pupils and parents too.
Hutchison Catering used the calculator to work out that a 10% reduction of food waste by 10% at Skelton Primary would save £3 and 4kg of carbon per service. These amounts multiplied across the school year and across multiple sites will save the organisation a significant amount of money, reduce their CO₂ impact and help them achieve their net zero goals.
Following these calculations, Hutchison Catering have set a target for all nine schools taking part in the pilot study to reduce their food waste by 10% over six months, with food waste weights being monitored each month using Cool Food Pro.
At Skelton Primary, the catering manager will ensure only the quantities needed for dishes like rice and mashed potatoes are cooked. Posters will also be put up to remind pupils to only take what they will use from the salad bar. To further their awareness of food waste’s climate impact, the Cool Food Pro team delivered a whole school assembly and an interactive workshop on the real value of food and the importance of reducing food waste.
The pilot study was simple to implement in school and helped us to easily identify sources of food waste. The Cool Food Pro calculator will be great to record our progress and feed this back to the wider school community.
More case studies
Norse Group catering team continue taking steps towards sustainability
Norse’s catering team are one of Cool Food Pro’s original pilot sites, joining the project back in 2022. They’ve long shown a commitment to providing healthy and sustainable food, being awarded Food for Life Served Here certification in 2010 and continuing to be part of the programme. Since then, Norse – which are based in Norfolk and Suffolk – have taken ongoing steps towards sustainability.
Gather and Gather staff restaurant puts sustainability on the menu
The staff restaurant at Whitman Laboratories has put sustainability on the menu by reducing meat and increasing vegetables and pulses in their popular meat-based meals. The contract caterer, Gather and Gather, already offer a daily plant-based option, but they wanted to take further steps to reduce their carbon impact, and contribute to better health for the planet, and for their customers.
St Mary’s University adds Cool Food Pro to sustainability initiatives
St Mary’s University has joined a range of exciting initiatives – including Cool Food Pro – to help it serve healthy and sustainable food to students, staff and the public.
