Food waste reduction measures

While everything that is compostable is biodegradable, not everything that is biodegradable is compostable. Hence, the term “compostable”’ usually has a timeframe attached to it, and varies across individual composters and their specific operational requirements. Generally, this limit is set around 80 days (12 weeks), the time it usually takes in order to get a stable compost, with low microbial activity left.

Sustainable Waste Management Practices:

In this report, waste management practices are considered sustainable if they are higher than landfilling in the waste hierarchy (see below). In our research, “Sustainable Waste Management Practices” mainly refers to reducing waste, composting and digesting food waste, and recycling or composting singleuse foodservice packaging.

Sustainable Waste Disposal Methods:

In this report, the definition of a “Sustainable Waste Disposal Method” is the same as the one for waste management practices, except that it doesn’t include waste reduction, as waste in this case is not disposed of.

ABOUT PACKAGING

Single-Use Foodservice Packaging (SFP):

As this research was done in collaboration with Eat Without Waste, the definition of “Single-Use Foodservice Packaging” used in this research has been aligned with the one used by Eat Without Waste, that is to say food and drink containers only (boxes, cups, saucers…), excluding peripherals such as cutlery, bags, and napkins.

Sustainable Material:

Similarly to the definitions of “Sustainable Waste Management Practices” and “Sustainable Waste Disposal Methods”, our definition of “Sustainable Material” is based on the waste hierarchy. A material is considered sustainable if it gives additional end-of-life options that are higher in the waste hierarchy, like compostable or recyclable material. It also includes recycled or reused material.