A new cross-border project is set to help the catering industry to reduce its carbon footprint, by promoting sustainable food choices and reducing waste.
PECT is a key partner in the new project ‘Cool Food Pro’ bringing with it 25 years’ worth of experience in communicating and promoting sustainable behaviour change.
The project, funded by the Interreg France (Channel) England programme, will run until June 2023 and aims to increase sustainability, food security, and public well-being across the UK and France.
It builds upon the award-winning micro project, Coo-L Food, also funded by the Channel programme, which encouraged consumers to switch to more sustainable food habits through a real-time digital CO2 tracker.
Cool Food Pro aims to promote long-term behaviour change, across both the Public and Private Catering sector through promoting the following actions:
- Buying local and seasonal ingredients.
- Increasing the number of plant-based meals.
- Reducing the amount of food and packaging waste.
The project will design and develop a free, low-carbon web app, where caterers will be able to measure the progress of their CO2 savings and food waste. It will be further assisted by a customised support program for roll-out in school canteens, hospitals, and workplaces.
“Working with the private and public catering sectors has the potential to make a real impact and Cool Food Pro aims to inform 50,000 consumers of sustainable food practices,” says Stuart Dawks, Director of Operations at PECT, “PECT are looking forward to working with Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Maison de l’Agriculture Biologique du Finistère and the Soil Association UK, to help implement long-term sustainable behaviour change within the catering sector”.
Carolyn Reid, Programme Manager, France (Channel) England programme, said:
“Following on from the success of Cool Food which sought to encourage consumers to adopt more sustainable food choices, Cool Food Pro will help to create lasting change in the catering industry. Through funding this project, we aim to support the development of new practices that will help the catering industry transition to being carbon neutral by 2050.”
The project has a total budget of €1,2m, of which €832,825 has been co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund via the Interreg France (Channel) England programme.
If you would like to find out more information or how you can get involved, please visit the Interreg FCE website or email [email protected].
