Handbook to help restaurants save more food

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A third of all food that is produced is not eaten. The Collaboration for Reduced Food Waste, a national agreement led by IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, has produced a handbook providing restaurants with practical tips about how to save more food.

Swedish restaurants discard around 70,000 tonnes of food each year. This includes shells, bones and other inedible items, but a great deal could have been eaten if the food had been handled properly.

“Food waste has a large impact on the climate and the environment and costs a lot of money, so it’s important for restaurants to have procedures to minimise it,” says Elvira Molin at IVL, who has worked on the handbook.

The Swedish National Food Agency has previously published a handbook for public catering facilities, and the handbook for private restaurants was created on the basis of this. The work has been undertaken by the Collaboration for Reduced Food Waste, a voluntary national arrangement between parties from right across the food chain, which has its office at IVL.

ADVICE THAT SAVES BOTH FOOD AND MONEY “With the new handbook, I hope that restaurant kitchens will find useful advice and tips to help them reduce their waste. Most of all, however, I would like everyone to start measuring their wasting continually. It’s necessary to achieve a balance between work input and return in relation to reduced food waste,” says Elvira Molin.

Reducing food waste pays for itself, not just in terms of the environment and the climate, but also from an economic perspective. A US study from 2019 found that every dollar that is used to reduce food waste in restaurants produced a profit of six dollars. “In the public sector, there are increasing demands regarding the reporting and following-up of food waste. Several sectors are very good when it comes to taking measurements, and many enthusiastic chefs run their restaurants with minimal waste and are happy to share their knowledge. Despite this, a lot of data and knowledge about this area is still lacking. The new handbook is one of a number of tools that we would like to help reduce food waste in Swedish restaurant kitchens,” said Elvira Molin.

GOOD FOR BOTH HEALTH AND THE USE OF RESOURCES Public catering facilities often have the problem of guests eating too little. The challenge for private restaurants is usually the reverse – diners both take and eat more than they need. Working to reduce food waste can therefore also contribute to better public health.

“For example, you can use smaller plates, offer different portion sizes or make sure guests have the opportunity to take home any food they don’t eat,” says Elvira Molin.

TAKE CARE OF THE LEFTOVERS! The handbook presents advice and recipes from restaurants that have successfully reduced their food waste. The key is cooperation between those who prepare and those who serve the food. And one piece of advice is consistently shared:

“Always plan so that leftovers are taken care of, and are not thrown away. Using them wisely reduces the need to buy in food.”

ABOUT SAMS

The Collaboration for Reduced Food Waste (often referred to by its Swedish abbreviation, SAMS) is a voluntary arrangement between operators from across the entire food chain. Some thirty companies, organisations and public authorities participate in or support the collaboration. The work is led by IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute is funded by its members, Stiftelsen IVL and the Swedish National Food Agency. Read more: ivl.se/sams

PHOTO: ANDREA RANKOVIC

Name: Elvira Molin, industrial Ph.D. student Age: 32 years Function at IVL: Project manager and researcher at the Stockholm office. My area of expertise is sustainable food systems and public procurement, ideally in combination. Background: I wrote my thesis at IVL in the spring of 2017 and started working here in the autumn of the same year. I have an M.Sc. from KTH, focusing on soil and water engineering. Before and in part during my studies, I have worked as a chef in locations such as Dublin, Luxembourg and Stockholm. I’m never going to leave the kitchen completely, in all likelihood!

If you would like to learn more about the Collaboration for Reduced Food Waste, please contact: Elvira Molin, elvira.molin@ivl.se, tel. 010-788 67 39

IVL CONTRIBUTES TO THE GLOBAL GOALS BY:

8.4 Improving resource efficiency in consumption and production 9.4 Upgrading all industry and infrastructure to achieve increased sustainability 9.5 Increasing research initiatives and technical capacity within the industrial sector 9.B Support domestic technology development and industrial diversification 12.1 Implement the 10-year framework of programmes on sustainable consumption and production patterns 12.2 Sustainable management and use of natural resources 12.3 Halve global food waste 12.5 Significantly reducing the amount of waste 12.C Eliminate market distortions that encourage wasteful consumption patterns 13.A Implement the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change