A new campaign has been launched to tackle the nearly three billion pound worth of food that is wasted every year across the hospitality and food service sector, of which 75 percent could have been eaten.
The Guardians of Grub campaign was developed by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) as part of its aim to cut food waste from farm to fork.
It intends to empower professionals from across the hospitality and food service sector to reduce the amount of food thrown away in their establishments. This includes everyone from Michelin star restaurants to local pubs and wherever food is served to order.
It's about making simple, low-cost changes to the way food is bought, prepared and served that have waste reduction in mind.
A suite of free materials has been produced using the latest behavioural change strategies. These include information posters and how-to guides, and a free calculator to record the changes being made. The theme stresses the enormous environmental impact wasted food has on the planet, and makes the point that everyone has the power to defeat waste within their work.
Marcus Gover, WRAP CEO said: “We will not tackle the impact of global warming if we don’t fix the food system, and everyone needs to play their part.
"If everyone in the hospitality and food service industry put as much passion into reducing waste as they do into creating delicious food, it would make a massive difference to cutting the damage food waste is doing to our planet.
"Through this great new campaign, we are showing how everyone can reduce food waste without compromising on quality, or customer experience, and save money. It’s a double win; for the environment and for business.”
The campaign video touches on the many environmental impacts of food. These includes the enormous amount of resources, water, land, energy and time required to produce it, as well as methane gas produced through decomposing food waste disposed of in landfill. This gas is thirty-times more harmful on the environment than carbon dioxide.
Download campaign resources
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