Hospitality and food service professionals can save food, money and the planet by keeping food from being wasted this March
Author: Eleanor Morris, WRAP
Whether you’re a chef, server, or part of the head office team, your actions to stop food from being wasted in your home and at work can and do make a difference to the planet.
Food Waste Action Week, from 7-13 March 2022, is the time to really step up your efforts as Guardians of Grub to stop food from going in the bin, and make a noise about how you Love Food Hate Waste with colleagues, friends and on social media.
Small changes – from serving the right portion size, to careful peeling and prepping – add up to big savings for ourselves and our planet.
You can make a difference
In the UK, the Hospitality and Food Service sector throws away over one million tonnes of food, 75% of which could have been eaten.
It’s a shocking statistic, but it’s a problem that can be easily solved. Measuring and reducing food waste can be made an everyday practice in the sector. And as soon as you start tracking what’s being thrown away, you’re highlighting what’s being wasted and why. You can then take steps to reduce it.
This saves money, and it’s a tangible way to play your part in tackling the climate crisis. Wasting food feeds climate change; the production of every pea, potato and slice of bread releases CO2e into the atmosphere. If you help to make sure this food feeds people, not bins it’s a win-win for people and the planet.
Tools to make it easy
The Guardians of Grub are here to help – we’ve worked closely with leaders in the industry to create the tools to get your teams and your networks to take action. And Food Waste Action Week is a great time to get behind the campaign.
The free Guardians of Grub tracking tools have helped caterers across the UK make savings. Why not join them – use our simple tracking sheets, posters and calculator to work out how much you can save during Food Waste Action Week, and let us know your results?
We’d love you to contribute to the conversation and share tips on saving food, using #FoodWasteActionWeek #GuardiansOfGrub hashtags, and tagging @LFHW_UK and @WRAP_UK on social media channels.
You’ll be joining illustrious Guardians of Grub such as The Ship Inn, Cumbria, who found that measuring helped to reduce food waste by 72% in just 4 weeks. Making small tweaks, such as adjusting portion sizes, and reassessing garnishes resulted in saved money and satisfied customers.
And the Harrington Arms in Gawsworth identified potential estimated food waste savings totalling £11k a year, when associated costs such as the energy used in cooking and storage, staff time, waste disposal and water were factored in.
We all have a role to play and we are all part of the solution. The UK’s goal is to halve food waste by 2030, and by working together we can make this happen.
So visit guardiansofgrub.com for the tools you need to rise up against food waste in your workplace.
For household top tips head to lovefoodhatewaste.com and follow @LFHW_UK for tonnes of ideas and inspiration.
