King’s College has been accused of wasting food despite environmental commitments, after allegations were made by students over an incident earlier this month (19/02).

Students from Queens’ College, while attending brunch at King’s, reportedly had their food confiscated before being asked to leave. The incident included four students, taking place at the college servery, which runs a self-service system.

The students claimed that after the food was confiscated it was thrown away.

One of the students noted that King’s College “tries to be environmentally conscious and sustainable, even having the carbon footprints of each meal printed on their menus, but were willing to waste food”.

Students have used the incident to draw attention to wider criticisms across the country, after 2022 figures reported by ‘Materials Recovery’ suggested that the UK wastes an estimated 1.3 billion tonnes of food annually, with the amount of carbon generated equivalent to that released by one fifth of UK road vehicle emissions.

As a popular tourist destination, it is not an uncommon experience for external students to be kicked out of King’s College. However, students have noted that King’s has no explicit policy on dining in the college for non-member students, and cited the common occurrence of other colleges allowing outsiders to sit and eat in their halls as evidence that their removal was not justified.

King’s College has been contacted for comment.