UCCSU New Food Pantry: Cutting Waste and Supporting Students

UCC’s Students’ Union (UCCSU) has officially launched its new Food Pantry, a sustainability initiative designed to reduce food waste and support students experiencing food insecurity. The pantry was officially launched in October, marking the transition from a successful pilot earlier this year to a permanent weekly pantry.

This is a partnership with FoodCloud, an Irish social enterprise dedicated to reducing food waste through the redistribution of surplus food from businesses to charities nationwide, and is supported by the UCC Alumni Fund which awards grants to projects that enrich the UCC student experience beyond the scope of government funding.

The pantry will operate weekly throughout the academic year and complements the existing UCCSU Food Bank, which provides food vouchers to students. The pantry will provide students with essential ambient and fresh food items recovered through FoodCloud’s redistribution network.

Thanks to a grant from the UCC Alumni Fund (funded by generous donations from alumni and friends), key infrastructure, including a new fridge and a new freezer, have been installed to support chilled and frozen foods.

Food waste has a major environmental impact, producing four times more CO₂ emissions than the aviation industry, underscoring the importance of redirecting surplus food instead of letting it go to waste.

“It’s been such a privilege to see this project grow from a pilot into what it is today,” says Sumaya Mohammed, 2025/26 Environmental & Sustainability Representative and UCCSU Pantry Project Co-Leader. “The pantry truly proves that student-led climate action can be both practical and powerful - sustainability isn’t an abstract idea, it’s something you can hold in your hands and see making a difference in real time.”

According to the UCCSU Cost of Living Report, published in 2024, 27% of students have had to cut back on food expenditure in the past year.