Start a lunch club at your work

From sandwich boxes, to crisps and napkins, British workers’ ‘lunch on the go’ habit is generating 10.7 billion items of packaging waste annually and costing £9.9 billion more than if everyone made their lunch at home! We set up the #FoodSavvy Lunch Club to help workplaces to reduce their single-use plastic and food waste. The #FoodSavvy Lunch Club was trialled in 2019 with Aviva, AXA, Environment Agency and BT, challenging a total of 50 employees to go for a month without using single-use packaging at lunch time. Participants successfully cut their food and plastic waste by half.

Get in touch to start your own Lunch Club at your workplace.

How the lunch club was created

Tailored advice. The Lunch Club was given our #FoodSavvy Savings Guide, which provided them with the golden rules for reducing packaging and food waste.

Delicious dishes. The Lunch Club followed our three-week meal plan packed with simple, healthy, sustainable meals and were challenged to make their own meals for the trial’s final week.

Cooking with Emma. Chef Emma Crowhurst demonstrated to the employees how reducing food and single-use plastic waste by making your own lunch can make you healthier and save you money.

The difference made

Wave goodbye to waste:

The 50 people in the Lunch Club made huge cuts in their waste over the month, with an average reduction of 54% in single-use plastics and 52% in food waste. 67% taking part in the trial reported that they saved money.

Creating camaraderie:

The Lunch Club has also brought employees together, with people reporting they’ve started sharing food, as well as tips and feedback. The effects of the Lunch Club extend beyond the workplace, with people encouraging their families and friends to trial out alternatives to single-use plastic and to reduce their food waste with our #FoodSavvy Savings Guide.

“What a brilliant, thought provoking initiative. The #FoodSavvy Club really made me think hard about the food I waste and in particular the huge amount of plastic used in the food I buy and eat. I’ve made a number of small but really effective changes to the way I shop and carry food around that has significantly reduced my use of wasteful plastic. Why not join in and see what you can achieve.”

— Dr Charles Beardall OBE, Environment Agency, Area Director, East Anglia

Three ways you can get involved

1. Download the guide of inspiration. Download our #FoodSavvy Savings Guide and our three week meal plan to see how you can save money by making your own lunch and reducing your food waste

2. Run your own. Create a Lunch Club in your workplace and encourage your colleagues to reduce their single-use plastic and food waste.

3. ‘Take Away, Give Back’ scheme near you. BYO Tupperware to your favourite cafés, they may even offer you a discount! Do you own an eatery or café? Encourage customers to bring their own Tupperware and containers by becoming a ‘Take Away, Give Back’ site today.

Got any questions? We'd love to hear from you. Get in touch!