THE MALDIVES—Soneva Fushi, the multi award-winning luxury resort in the Maldives, which has implemented numerous projects to reduce their impact on the environment, recently joined hands with LightBlue Environmental Consulting to implement a food waste audit, to understand and address the problem of food waste that affects the entire hospitality industry and to reinforce its position as global leader in sustainability.
The United Nations recently put food waste reduction as one of their most urgent goals to reach and countries all over the world are beginning to realize the true negative impact of food waste with the United States planning to cut its waste by 50 percent by 2030, and while the European Union has set itself the same target, it hopes to do it by 2020. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), “The impact of food waste is not just financial. The vast amount of food going to landfills makes a significant contribution to global warming.”
A detailed Food Waste Monitoring System was implemented by LightBlue across the Soneva Fushi operations for seven days, and included hands-on training as well as raising awareness among kitchen employees, stewards and service staff.
Employees sorted, weighed, defined and recorded waste for every shift (breakfast, lunch and dinner) to establish a food waste baseline (grams of food waste per cover) and understand where they could focus their efforts.
Important Questions Answered
The detailed audit helped answer crucial questions related to food waste: How much (in kilograms), where (in four categories: spoilage, preparation, buffet and customer plate waste), when, why, and what food is discarded. The assessment also reviewed how much it cost, and how much could be saved through the implementation of strategic recommendations along the food chain, mainly during purchasing, receiving, storage, prep, mise en place, communication, buffet, and service.
“I think part of the benefit of a detailed audit like this is that it increases everyone’s mindfulness about what they are doing with food,” said Gordon Jackson, the Waste to Wealth Manager at Soneva Fushi. “This has really helped everybody throughout the food and beverage team and the organization as a whole just to think about what they are doing. There was quite a dramatic reduction in the organic material being sent to our composting site.”
At the end of the comprehensive review, Soneva Fushi received the LightBlue “Certificate of Completion” marking its genuine effort in readdressing a problem that affects the entire hospitality industry. Resort employees who showed true commitment received a personal Food Waste Champions Certificate of Achievement.
“It was a genuine pleasure working with the Soneva Fushi team,” said Benjamin Lephilibert, Managing Director of LightBlue Environmental Consulting. “I’ve never experienced such dedication from employees to understand, implement and address the food waste issue, which was pivotal in the successful implementation of the audit. I feel that this is the result of a genuine commitment from Soneva to integrate sustainability in every aspect of its operation, and it shows once again that sound environmental practices translate into substantial financial benefits.”
Go to Soneva Fushi.
