Reducing Waste in Food Service

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Reducing Waste in Food Service
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Sustainable Waste Management

• Reduce the amount of waste you discard
• Reduce the use of disposables (napkins, weight of
  disposables)
• Avoid individuals packs and use bulk packaging
• Reuse containers and products
• Select durable items including washables
• Repurpose leftover food items
• Repair what is broken or give it to someone who
  can repair it.
• Recycle as much as possible and buy products with
  recycled content.
• Segregating items that can be recycled at your
  facility (paper, plastic, glass, metal, etc)
• Separate food waste and biodegradable products
  for composting (Note this is rarely available).

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How much do Americans throw away?

• Almost half the food in the United States goes to
  waste.
• Approximately 100 billion pounds of foodabout
  3,000 pounds per secondis wasted in the United
  States each year.
• Less than 3 percent of food waste is recovered.

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Business Case Reducing Waste in Food Service

• Reduce energy and water usage
• Reduce use of virgin materials
• Reduce waste collection bills
• Community friendly (landfills, air and water
  pollution)
• Cost effective
• Increased use of renewable resources
• Source reduction, including reuse, can help avoid
  the costs of recycling, municipal composting,
  landfilling, and combustion.
• Source reduction also conserves resources and
  reduces pollution, including greenhouse gases
  that contribute to global warming.

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Reduce
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Reduce

• Waste prevention, or "source reduction," means
  consuming and throwing away less.
• Waste reduction is the preferred approach to
  waste management because waste that never gets
  created doesnt have any associated waste
  management costs
• Waste reduction includes reducing both the amount
  and toxicity of the trash created
• Waste is too expensive, its cheaper to do the
  right things. Paul Hawkin

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Why Reduce?

• Saves natural resources
• Reduces toxicity of waste
• Reduces costs

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Products that Reduce Usage

• Xpress Naps
• Dispenses one napkin at a time
• Reduces waste
• Reduces cost (approximately 25)
• Dispenser at no charge
• Environmental Evaluator tool available on
  SodexhoNet
• Corp. Citizenship gt Sustainability gt Resources gt
  Implementation
• Shows environmental impact for SCA products

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Products that Reduce Usage

• Consider reducing weight of disposables
• Switching from heavyweight to medium or
  lightweight (with client approval) reduces amount
  of plastic used and amount of space in landfill

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Products that Reduce Usage

• Health department-approved refillable condiment
  dispensers vs. individual PCs
• Beverage dispenser (juice, water, soda) vs.
  bottles/cans
• Reusable hats for kitchen employees vs.
  disposable paper hats
• Health department-approved dispenser for plastic
  straws vs. individually wrapped
• Consider using paper wrapper instead of clamshell
  or paper plate

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Products that Reduce Usage

• Since 1977, the weight of 2-liter plastic soft
  drink bottles has been reduced from 68 grams each
  to 51 grams. That means that 250 million pounds
  of plastic per year has been kept out of the
  waste stream.
• Many of Sodexhos vendors are working to reduce
  the amount of plastic and reduce the total resin
  imprint
• For example, there is an initiative by one
  manufacturer that reduces the total amount of
  resin in a .5L water bottle from 14.75g of resin
  to 12.2g of resin which will eliminate 245
  million pounds of plastic each year. (Pepsi)
• For example, there is an initiative by one
  manufacturer that reduces the amount of plastic
  in the bottle by 30 (nestle water deer park)

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Tips for Reducing Usage

• Track and collect data on the types and amounts
  of each kind of food scrap you are generating.
  Determine if some of your food waste can be
  reduced by ordering or producing less.
• Adjust inventory levels on perishables to reduce
  waste
• Rotate perishable stock at every delivery using
  FIFO method to minimize waste due to spoilage
• Buy less and use less
• Make wise package selections--precycle--purchase
  products in materials/packaging that can be
  readily recycled
• Avoid using single serve containers and products
• Select durable items rather than disposables

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Tips for Reducing Usage

• Purchase pre-cut fruit and vegetables vs. bulk
  product (can be purchased at those times of year
  when pre-cut cost is equal to (or less than) the
  cost of bulk product (i.e., lettuce)
• Purchase from our manufacturing partners who are
  working on re-designing of products to reduce
  resin footprint
• Use concentrates rather than diluted products.
  This produces less waste for disposal and buying
  in bulk gives the best product to packaging
  ratio, both of which have a significant impact on
  the environment.
• Consider whether it is necessary to print out
  e-mail messages

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Reuse
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Reusable Products
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Reusable Products

• Washable china and flatware
• Reusable hats for kitchen employees vs.
  disposable paper hats
• Sodexho reusable mugs
• Cleaning cloths vs. paper equivalent
• Concentrated chemical products dispensed in
  reusable spray bottles vs. ready to use products
• Plastic or glass (washable) containers or jars to
  store food vs. paper (disposable) containers

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Tips for Reusing Food

• Reuse leftover food for use in another menu
  item--for example, beef into chili, chicken into
  chicken salad, veggies into soup, bread into
  croutons
• Donate extra food to food banks, soup kitchens,
  and shelters
• Determine if any local farms or zoos can use food
  scraps to convert to animal feed
• STOP Hunger Foundation http//www.helpstophunger.
  org/

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Tips for Reusing Products

• Repair equipment instead of purchasing new
  equipment
• Donate old or surplus computers and other
  equipment
• Reuse unsoiled cardboard boxes for storage and
  transportation of non-perishables and equipment
• Offer discounts to customers who bring refillable
  mugs
• Donate used publications to schools, hospitals,
  nursing homes, libraries

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Source Reduction and Reuse Facts

• More than 55 million tons of MSW were source
  reduced in the United States in 2000, the latest
  year for which these figures are available.
• Containers and packaging represented
  approximately 28 percent of the materials source
  reduced in 2000, in addition to nondurable goods
  (e.g., newspapers, clothing) at 17 percent,
  durable goods (e.g., appliances, furniture,
  tires) at 10 percent, and other MSW (e.g., yard
  trimmings, food scraps) at 45 percent.
• There are more than 6,000 reuse centers around
  the country, ranging from specialized programs
  for building materials or unneeded materials in
  schools to local programs such as Goodwill and
  the Salvation Army, according to the Reuse
  Development Organization.
• Between two and five percent of the waste stream
  is potentially reusable according to local
  studies in Berkeley, California, and Leverett,
  Massachusetts.

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Recycling
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Life of a Recycled Product

• The process of turning virgin wood pulp into
  product usable within the paper and fiber
  industry requires great amounts of energy and
  other resources. Selecting recycled fiber
  materials reduces the strain on our environment
  by utilizing the waste of other industries.
  Diverting these materials from the landfills or
  incinerators where they were destined creates a
  chain of reuse and sustainability.

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Definitions
RECYCLING The re-processing of materials into new
products

• BIOCOMPOSTABLES
• Biodegradable and compostable food service and
  packaging disposables
• Made from readily renewable sources like
  sugarcane fiber, corn and potato,
• Take less energy to manufacture
• Not made from toxic or pollution causing sources
• Can be composted to reduce the amount of waste
  generated 

BIOPLASTICS A new generation of compostable
and biodegradable plastics which are made from
readily renewable resources such as corn,
soybeans, potato
COMPOSTABLE Organic material that can be
biologically decomposed under aerobic conditions.
BAGASSE Sugar cane fiber pulp left after the
Juice is extracted from the sugar cane stalk
BIODEGRADABLE Material that, left to itself,
will be decomposed by natural processes
PLA PolyLactic Acid a product made from
cornstarch with a look and feel of petroleum
based plastic
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Why recycle?

• Reduces costs
• Creates jobs
• The plastic recycling industry provides jobs for
  more than 52,000 American workers. More than
  56,000 recycling and reuse enterprises employ 1.1
  million workers nationwide
• Reduces waste
• Preserves landfill space
• Good for the environment
• Reduces air and water pollution
• Saves energy
• Manufacturing with recycled aluminum cans uses
  95 less energy. Recycling a single aluminum can
  saves enough energy to power a TV for 3 hours

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Tips for Recycling

• Provide waste oils for rendering and fuel
  conversion and food scraps for digestion to
  recover energy
• Participate in clients established composting
  program

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Steps to an effective program

• Be Proactive on Waste Prevention
• Reduce Looking at materials in the waste stream
  can help you identify materials you could
  proactively illuminate. Examples like requesting
  less packaging or use reusable containers can
  reduce materials at the source.
• Reuse Refurbishing, washing or repairing items
  can also improve a products life span. Other item
  such as envelopes and file folders are easily
  reused internally in the office.
• Recycle/Donate Some office equipment and
  supplies can also be donated as several charities
  and non-profit organizations are often in need of
  these items.

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Steps to an effective program

• Get Everyone Involved
• Make sure staff and patrons are aware of your
  commitment and plans for this program. A
  successful plan has allot to do with the
  awareness of the program. Signs, labeling and
  measurements help get everyones buy in to a good
  program.
• Training/ Education for
• Managers (e-learning and TTT)
• Staff (training education)
• Customers (Marketing/Education)

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How to set up a program

• Recycle bins need to be as conveniently located
  as possible. This means that any area where the
  recycle material is generated or discarded needs
  to have a container near by.
• Containers should be clearly differentiated from
  regular trash, easily identifying what material
  goes into them.
• Consistent sizes can help reduce can liners and
  costs. Wrong sized liners can result in hundreds
  of pounds of can liner material as bags are not
  fully utilized.

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How to set up a program

• Selecting Containers Consideration to
• appearance
• separation
• traffic
• frequency
• Washable
• Standardize
• storage/sorting or cleaning
• Color coding
• Stations or desk side?

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A Balance for your Customers Needs
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Capture your Success!

• Be sure to capture, report and post any results
  from your program.
• Measurement by weight example recycle rate
• Total recycled divided by (total discarded
  recycled)
• Recycling Rate
• of different materials removed from the waste
  stream and any other measurements are always good
  to capture.
• This reporting helps everyone get on board and
  the results can often help in assessments in
  other similar facilities.

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Sodexo Marks One Year of Recycled Paper Napkin
Program with Significant Environmental Impact
Announcement!

• March 31, 2008 Proving that simple acts can
  have a big impact, Sodexo announced today that
  after only one year, its switch to recycled
  napkins in 1,300 foodservice operations
  nationwide has resulted in saving nearly ten
  million gallons of water, more than 23,000 trees,
  half a million gallons of oil and five and a half
  million kilowatts of energy. The company began
  using two types of recycled napkins last year as
  part of a commitment to leadership in
  sustainability and to providing
  environment-friendly practices.
• Energy was saved because less power is used to
  recycle paper products than to create them from
  virgin material enough was saved through the
  napkin program to power 600 American homes for an
  entire year! In addition, more than half a
  million gallons of oil were saved 38 tanker
  trucks worth and 41 tons of pollutants were
  kept out of the environment. Further, 4,131 cubic
  yards of paper were diverted from landfill space.
  This is enough to cover an entire football field
  with a two and a half feet deep stack of paper.