Practicing trends of the food and beverage sector in reducing wastage a) Practices for reducing food wastage

Good practices for the food and beverage sector to reduce food wastage can be implemented through purchasing, receiving and storage, cooking and consumption.

Purchasing

 Order raw materials in appropriate quantity to prevent excessive inventory.

 Purchase products with minimal level.

 Order food from approved suppliers to avoid delivery of poor quality food.

Receiving and Storage

 Inspect food deliveries upon arrival for sub-standard food and do not accept these items from the supplier.

 Adjust inventory to minimise waste due to spoilage.

 Control storage procedures such as temperature to prevent spoilage.

 Implement first-in-first-out (FIFO) practice to avoid food waste.

Cooking

 Develop daily production plans to minimise over-production of food e.g.

Peninsula Hotel worked hard in reducing its food waste by curating its food presentation thoughtfully. Unlike many buffets which often serve food in big trays, The Verandah serves a wide selection of gourmet food

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 Properly prepare food to minimize spoilage.

 Make good use of surplus food to minimize food wastage (e.g. surplus food like sausages prepared for breakfast can be sold as hot dogs).

 Make good use of surplus raw food materials to minimize food wastage e.g. In 2013, Peninsula Hotel began to donate vegetable trimmings from its Chinese and banquet kitchens to local non-profit organization Food Angel, which cooks them to serve the homeless and others in need. Our chefs only use the finest part of a vegetable in creating a dish, so this new partnership enabled the hotel to divert its vegetable trimmings for a good cause (Source: The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels Limited, Annual Report 2013 on Sustainability Review).

Consumption

 Remind customers to avoid over-ordering.

 Provide fewer varieties or smaller portion-size in a buffet or banquet.

 Provide smaller-portion size to minimise food waste.

 Provide customers environmental friendly take-away containers for left-over food.

(Source: Adapted from Food Wise Hong Kong, 2013; NSW Business Chamber 2009; Sustainable Business Associates - Best Environmental Practices for the Hotel Industry, 2008)

b) Practices for reducing wastes associated with the preparation of food and beverage

The food and beverage sector can also implement good practices to reduce wastes associated with the preparation of food and beverage. The goal is to minimize waste sent to the landfill as much as possible. Some of these good practices are as below:

 Avoid individually wrapped food items in order to reduce the use of paper and cardboard.

 Utilise reusable glasses and bottles for containing food and beverage products.

 Use reusable plastic containers for food and beverage items.

 Minimise the use of canned food and beverage and try to purchase products with minimal or reusable packaging.

 Provide recycling bins in kitchen and restaurant areas and encourage staff and customers to recycle rather than trash waste.

 Replace disposable items with reusable ones such as refillable soap.

 Purchase in bulk with low packaging and this will reduce packaging.

 Compost organic wastes including food and food leftover.

 Collect biodegradable organic wastes (e.g. fruit and vegetable peelings) separately in order to compost them or reuse them as animal feed.

 Identify and choose suppliers that have already implemented eco-efficiency measures such as will take back packaging and used material.

 Prefer, whenever possible, products that are recycled, reusable, repairable, biodegradable, recyclable, fair trade and / or eco-labeled.

(Source: Adapted from NSW Business Chamber, 2009 and Sustainable Business Associates - Best Environmental Practices for the Hotel Industry, 2008)

References:

Agència de Residus de Catalunya (2011) More Responsible Food Consumption – Proposal to prevent and avoid food wastage, pp. 1-38.

Buck, M. (2007) A Guide to Developing a Sustainable Food Purchasing Policy, Association for the Advancement of Sustainability, pp. 1-16.

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