Sodexo Australia has joined the Australian Food Pact as it gains momentum, with more food and beverage companies recognising the importance of combatting food waste.
Alongside founding signatories such as Simplot Australia, Woolworths Group, and Coles, Sodexo is now helping to achieve the goal of halving Australia’s food waste – which costs the economy $36.6 billion each year – by 2030 .
1.3 billion metric tonnes of food is wasted or lost globally. This figure represents a third of all food produced annually .
As part of its commitment, Sodexo will make financial contributions in excess of $100,000 over the initial three year period of the agreement.
Sodexo will also establish an internal food waste team and action plan, participate in regular working groups and quantify loss to measure reductions in food waste in line with agreed upon targets.
Sodexo Australia country president & CEO APAC Energy & Resources Darren Hedley, said that Sodexo recognised its responsibility to give consumers the highest quality food through socially and environmentally conscious approaches.
“The effects of food waste prevention are proven to be circular, reducing the dollars spent on food and the resources used to produce more food.
“For this reason, we’re deliberate in introducing sustainable food initiatives into our daily practices which lessen the environmental footprint of our operations and, more broadly, our industry,” said Hedley.
Sodexo has previously advocated for reducing food waste and has separately deployed its own data-driven food waste prevention program, WasteWatch powered by Leanpath, across 51 Australian sites.
These trackers have recorded 280 tonnes of food waste, preventing over 91 tonnes of food waste with an equivalent dollar value of $293,000.
Further, in 2021, Sodexo pledged to purchase 100 tonnes of food per year for the next three years from certified Social Traders, Yume.
Just six months into this pledge, Sodexo hit its annual target in March 2022, putting the business on track to double its purchase commitment in the first year of the pledge.
Purchases made through Yume have allowed high-quality surplus food to make its way through Sodexo’s supply chain, preventing unnecessary food waste.
