Best Methods for Reducing Packaging in Restaurants and Beyond
Industry leaders from manufacturing, catering and the not-for-profit sector joined together earlier this month to discuss how the industry can overcome waste reduction challenges and accelerate its progress towards a circular economy.
Collaboration is key for tackling waste
Talking at Footprint Sustainability Bites: Packaging & Waste podcast, in association with Nestlé Professional, industry leaders discussed the challenges with regional waste disposal systems and the difficulties of accurately measuring emissions.
To address this, our experts agreed that accurate data and greater cross-sector collaboration will support the industry’s journey towards net zero.
The insights to this article were from our podcast, hosted by Amy Fetzer, Footprint Head of Research & Analysis. Our expert attendees were:
• Sokhna Gueye, head of packaging, Nestlé UK&I
• Sophie Whitfield, head of corporate responsibility engagement, Sodexo
• Eleanor Morris, hospitality and foodservice sector specialist, WRAP
Carry on reading to find out the best methods for food waste management from industry experts below.
4 ways to reduce food and packaging waste in out of home
It’s imperative that restaurants do their bit to reduce food and packaging waste. Speaking to our experts, they let us know some of the ways the hospitality industry can work to reduce this, like redistributing food and using reusable packaging. See the ways your business can do their bit below.
Cross-sector collaboration is vital
An idea that our experts pushed for when talking about waste management was cross-collaboration across different sectors to reduce consumption and give businesses transparency so they know what they can do better.
Sophie Whitfield talked about the importance of breaking down industry barriers to think about the circular economy. This would require different sectors and industries to collaborate to get the most value out of resources requiring a great deal of energy.
Agreeing, Eleanor Morris explained that a waste-free future would value materials through a different lens, factoring in environmental and social costs – not just economic. And collaboration across the chain will help us understand exactly what these costs are.
Re-usable packaging should be higher on the agenda
As well as eliminating problematic and non-recyclable plastic, Sokhna Gueye talked about the importance of focusing on reusable packaging to eliminate the need for disposable packaging in the first place.
Restaurants and the food service industry can do their bit by opting for items with less single use materials. At Nestlé, we’re working to eliminate non-recyclable plastics in our supply chain and investing in innovative, alternative delivery systems.
Waste reduction includes buying less food
Restaurant food waste should focus on more than disposal. Seeing as ‘18% of the food purchased by the hospitality and food service sector is thrown away,’ (WRAP) this element of food waste management is imperative for better sustainable practices.
Eleanor Morris explained the embodied impact of waste, in that most of its carbon impact is from the buying, cooking and serving food. Buying less food in the first place is a good way of reducing scope 3 emissions – i.e., emissions that are not produced by, or are the result of, the company or its assets. And understanding this impact more effectively will enable more accurate Scope 3 reporting.
“For every kilo of food waste, there’s 3.39 kilos of carbon equivalent. But the disposal element of that is only 0.12kg.” Eleanor Morris
Redistributing food has wide ranging benefits
To avoid waste, redistributing foods is a great option, but it does require collaboration across different sectors for it to be successful.
Sophie Whitfield recommended that the hospitality industry looks to industries like retail for ideas on redistributing food that might otherwise be wasted. Explaining the far-reaching effects of this she said, “We're working with great charity partners because it's all about reducing our impact in terms of the environment and carbon emissions, but also using what we can to support the communities where we live, where we work, and where our people are as well.”
How to reduce packaging waste
So, our experts advised us on better food waste management but what about beyond this? As they mentioned, collaboration across sectors is key to reducing packaging waste and better food sustainability. Here are the ways they’ve suggested that the industry can do this below.
Regional Recycling Requires Standardisation
In order to reduce packaging waste, our experts suggested that the UK recycling scheme needs reforming for a nationwide standard practice. Currently, recycling rules depend on your local council.
On the role of packaging, Sokhna Gueye explained the lack of consistency in collection schemes across the UK and their role in ensuring that packaging is recycled: ‘Ultimately, we need a better system, in terms of well-functioning collection sorting and recycling schemes as well as driving new behaviours.’
“Because if you and I are not putting the packaging in the right bins, it's just recyclable packaging ending up in landfill.” Sokhna Gueye
Gathering data on industry/restaurant food waste and how to reduce it is key
Again, our experts note the importance of collaboration across different sectors, especially in the way of sharing data for greater transparency and consistency.
The industry is in the early stages of monitoring the embodied impact of waste, said Eleanor Morris, but greater collaboration on data, factoring in greenhouse gases (GHGs), water and food waste, will improve reporting and ensure consistency.
Along the same lines, Sokhna Gueye explained that a better understanding of impact is vital from a packaging perspective too and that Life Cycle Assessments does not currently consider the impact of packaging that ends up in nature.
What can we do right now to reduce food and packaging waste?
We asked what key waste-reducing actions our leading experts would recommend listeners act upon immediately. They’ve kindly shared some top tips for food waste management that we can all start straight away:
“Each one of us is a citizen and a consumer, and we can make choices and drive a system change. So, my message would be refuse, reduce, reuse and recycle.” Sokhna Gueye
“I would encourage people to start getting data, get some facts. They're not going to be perfect, but even if there are gaps, you really need to build your own picture and take that level of responsibility.” Eleanor Morris
“Start thinking about the circular economy: the closed loop systems, and how we can start to crack some of these challenges. And look at how we work together across sector, across industry, as industries, at all levels, so we can start to think about the resources we have […] and how we can get the best value out of those.” Sophie Whitfield
Want to learn more about current and upcoming legislation, and how the hospitality industry can work towards better food and packaging waste management and creating a circular economy?
