FOOD EQUIPMENT
WASTE
and opportunity in the food service industry BY ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR KARLI VERGHESE, PRINCIPAL RESEARCH FELLOW, CENTRE FOR DESIGN AND SOCIETY, SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN, RMIT UNIVERSITY
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ignificant opportunities exist within Australian food and beverage services (pubs, hotels, restaurants, cafés and commercial caterers) to reduce the amount of food loss and waste generated on their premises. It has been estimated that food service establishments are the largest single source of food waste in the Australian commercial and industrial (C&I) sectors, generating 661,000 tonnes of the 1.5 million tonnes from the C&I sector (which includes food manufacturing, food retail and wholesale trade)1 – that is 44 per cent of C&I food waste. Of this waste, only two per cent is diverted and collected for recycling, such as composting, while the remaining 98 per cent ends up rotting away in landfill. Constraints around this low collection rate include difficulties with separation, handling, storage and collection of this waste inside establishments, along with inadequate collection infrastructure.
There are two classifications of food waste – edible and non-edible components. Making this distinction provides a platform from which to identify the reasons that waste occurs and the opportunities to reduce it. Food waste in the food and beverage sector is estimated to be 65 per cent from preparation; five per cent from food spoilage; and 30 per cent from customers’ plates. Examples include:
1 Encycle Consulting and Sustainable Resource Use, A study into commercial & industrial (C&I) waste and recycling in Australia by industry division (unpublished draft). 2012, Report to the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities: Canberra
Why is this important? Wasting resources not only wastes money, but it requires the waste to be separated and managed, and there are flow-on environmental impacts upstream.
94 • CLUBS AND PUBS MANAGER WINTER 2015
• inventory management, including over-ordering and stock rotation • trimmings and other food preparation waste • improper food handling • confusion over ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ dates • preparing too much food • plate leftovers (including portioning).