Sodexo’s industry-wide food waste campaign wins at Waste2Zero Awards 2022
Sodexo’s Appetite for Action campaign to tackle food waste in the foodservice industry was named the winner in the Best Waste Project Communication and Stakeholder Engagement category at the 2022 Waste2Zero awards.
Sodexo’s food waste strategy is a key element of its net zero roadmap and with the absence of the impact of food waste on the COP26 agenda Sodexo wanted to bring together the link food waste has on carbon emissions and net zero ambitions.
The campaign brought together experts and the industry to understand and address the issue. Research was undertaken to inform the discussion and help to establish key recommendations for organisations and government. Phase one of the campaign focused on the development of these recommendations with a second phase focusing on supply chain resilience in response to multiple external factors putting pressure on supply chains. Research conducted by Sodexo revealed the impact of these pressures on the supply chain had led to a 60% increase in food waste.
The awards, organised by Footprint Media in partnership with Bunzl Catering Supplies, recognise excellence in the out of home sector for organisations demonstrating operational strategies that reduce waste impacts to the environment up and down supply chains. Judges for the awards are experts in waste, packaging and sustainability.
The Best Waste Project Communication and Stakeholder Engagement category focuses on the execution of the most effective communications and stakeholder engagement strategy as part of a waste and resources project.
"For us it was clear more action was needed. We wanted to do more, we wanted to galvanise UK industry and political stakeholders. Using our leadership in this area, and our scale, we wanted to create a campaign that not only tackles food waste in our business, but one that encourages collaboration with others to help raise awareness of the challenges and together create strategies for reducing food waste and carbon emissions in the broader food services industry and beyond.
A key takeaway from our campaign is the need for greater industry collaboration from large organisations and with government and we were pleased to see Defra issue its consultation on food waste reporting for large businesses and on public sector food and catering policy for England earlier this year."
Sodexo is a global leader in addressing the food waste crisis and in the UK & Ireland this is being addressed under its Social Impact Planet Pathway and is a key element of its net zero roadmap and to step up action on tackling this issue.
Sodexo is the first food services company with a carbon emission reduction objective in line with the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels – a 34% reduction by 2025 compared to 2017. Sodexo is also the first group in its sector to link its financing to its actions to combat food waste.
Find out more about Appetite for Action