FoodSave

About the city. London took the opportunity of external funding to create an innovative public-private partnership with representatives of the hotel sector and individual businesses to begin addressing food waste through a voluntary food waste reduction scheme, using the results of the project as valuable lessons to guide future citywide food waste reduction programmes.

Goal

The aim of the project is to radically reduce the amount of food waste and efficiently use any leftover food, as well as more responsibly dispose of unavoidable food waste through processes such as composting or anaerobic digestion.

Implementation period. The project was launched in 2013.

Fact

Research carried out by WRAP reveals that 920,000 tonnes or 1.3 billion meals are wasted each year in the UK’s food & hospitality services sector, out of which an estimated 75% could have been eaten.

Food waste makes up 41 per cent of all waste generated by the UK hospitality sector.

Solutions

The FoodSave project follows the Food Waste Pyramid to primarily help businesses reduce their food waste. Any surplus food can be used to feed people in need. Food unfit for human consumption may be used for livestock, where it is legally possible. Where food waste cannot be avoided or redistributed, FoodSave encourages businesses to collect it for composting or energy production. This helps ensure that food waste does not end up in landfills.

The project was funded by the European Regional Development Fund, the London Waste and Recycling Council and the Mayor of London. From October 2013 to March 2015, FoodSave partnered with nearly 200 businesses, providing support to help them better manage their food waste. FoodSave was part of the Mayor’s wide-ranging support for London’s food economy which aims to help make it healthier, more sustainable and more profitable.

The Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) supplied FoodSave for the food and hospitality industry (including restaurants, pubs, staff canteens, hotels, and cafes), and Sustain:  the alliance for better food and farming ran the project for retailers, manufacturers, and wholesalers.

The FoodSave project supposed to help businesses in a variety of ways such as:

• Identifying where most food is wasted
• Providing advice on how to reduce food waste
• Helping businesses send food to people in need through organisations that redistribute food
• Helping businesses to direct food waste to feed animals such as pigs (where it is legal)
• Where food waste can’t be avoided, support composting and renewable energy generation.

For the catering and hospitality sector, the SRA has worked with businesses to conduct “food waste audits”.

The food waste audit was conducted over 2-4 weeks using “smart meter scales” to measure food waste. It was 3 step process:

1. Conducting a free detailed food waste audit of the business/company.
2. Looking at the numbers to understand where and why waste is generated.
3. Giving practical recommendations for reducing waste business/company producing.

https://youtu.be/Si4FVPb0VCo

Challenges

FoodSave has ended and can no longer offer free food waste audits.

Team

The project was funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the London Waste and Recycling Board (LWARB) and the Mayor of London. FoodSave was supported by the London Food Board and delivered in partnership with the Sustainable Restaurant Association and Sustain.

Timeline

From November 2013 to By March 2015 FoodSave aimed to:

• Divert over 1,000 tonnes of food waste from landfill
• Reduce food waste by over 150 tonnes
• Save businesses over £350,000 associated with waste reduction and disposal

FoodSave programme has won the 2014 LARAC (Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee) celebration award for ‘Best Waste Minimisation or Prevention Project’.

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