Caterer says industry must rise to the challenge of cutting food waste as MEPs are set to vote on new regulations on 24/1/17.
As European Union (EU) MEPs are set to vote on introducing tougher waste and recycling laws, leading caterer Vacherin has called on the entire foodservice industry to reduce food waste right through the supply chain. Vacherin believes that all caterers have a vital role to play in helping achieve meaningful waste reduction targets – and is embedding this concept in its marketing, operations and client initiatives for 2017.
The EU vote on 24th January will determine its approach in a Circular Economy Package – which is a new legislative framework for resource efficiency due to be enforced later this year. Additionally almost 40 organisations, including Friends of the Earth (FoE), Forum for the Future and Zero Waste Europe, are urging MEPs to vote for “farm-to-fork” food waste to be halved within 15 years.
To support these ambitions Vacherin is today publically pledging to increase its existing successes in three areas. Firstly it is on target to convert an even greater quantity of coffee grounds and rapeseed oil to biofuel in 2016/17; secondly it continues to serve increasing volumes of I’mPerfect cosmetically rejected fruit and vegetables to diners; and lastly it aims to retain its newly acquired status as a zero-to-landfill organisation, with an emphasis on reducing and diverting food waste. It will report fully on these forecast successes in its annual CSR report in April this year.
While the environmental and social arguments for the need to act are strong, Vacherin is keen to point out that the commercial case for doing so is equally compelling. Vacherin has managed year on year turnover growth throughout its 14 years of operation, while continuously improving on a wide range of sustainability metrics. Vacherin believes every single caterer and foodservice business can make a contribution – however small – which when combined can make a significant collective impact.
Zoe Stennett-Cox, Vacherin’s Lead on Sustainability & CSR: “we have to realise that the foodservice industry has a vital role to play in reducing food waste. We mustn’t allow retail and household food waste to be the main focus of attention. According to the United Nations we waste approximately 1.3 billion tonnes of food each year – which is around a third of all food produced for human consumption. We all have a role to play to turn this around. Either we can continue as before, or we can make a change today.”