Tag: food waste

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The Meetings Show pledge to tackle food waste

With the help of WRAP’s Guardians of Grub resources, The Meetings Show will be encouraging its exhibitors and event buyers to help cut food waste and take sustainability seriously.

WRAP’s Guardians of Grub campaign aims to tackle the £3.2 billion worth of food wasted each year across the entire hospitality and foodservice sector and aligns with the Courtauld Commitment 2025 and the Mayor of London’s objectives that were outlined in his London Environment Strategy.

As well as tackling food waste, organisers working for parent company Northstar Meetings Group, will continue to challenge suppliers to further increase the use of recyclable and reusable products at the show while educating and encouraging exhibitors not to bring single-use plastic promotional materials and paper onsite.

Part of its 40 hours of free educational sessions will continue to help address the 1.1 million tonnes of food that the UK’s hospitality and foodservice sector throws away each year, 75% of which could have been eaten.

Jack Marczewski, Northstar Meetings Group’s Event Director, said: “Since our first show in 2013, we have been making great strides to further minimise our environmental impact. All of our floor covering is recycled with 50% being reintegrated by our supplier, for example. Yet, we can always do more, not only to help minimise the impact of the show, but also continue to play our part in educating and raising awareness of the tools and resources that are available by providing a stage for the industry to share best practice.”

The announcement has been welcomed by The Meetings Show host venue Olympia London.

Abbey Short, Catering Manager at Olympia London, said: “We are proud of the progress we have made so far with WRAP’s help, having already reduced annual food waste by 17%, since signing up to Guardians of Grub in September 2019. This has also helped increase our overall waste recycling rate to over 98%. Our commitment to eradicating food waste continues; we shall continue to engage with our clients, visitors and colleagues to understand behaviours and work collaboratively until we can say we are a ‘zero food waste’, in addition to a ‘zero to landfill’ venue.”

The capital’s international promotional agency, London & Partners, similarly welcomed the news as it has been working alongside the Mayor of London, WRAP and event tourism organisations, such as The Meetings Show to focus efforts on its key city targets.

Paul Black, Head of Business Events at London & Partners, said: “We are delighted that Olympia London and The Meetings Show are demonstrating strong commitment and action to reducing food waste working with WRAP at this year’s show and other events. The Mayor of London 2018 Environmental Plan has set out clear city targets to achieve in the coming years and the event industry has a fundamental role to play by convening the key people and companies necessary to take positive and immediate action”

Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy, Shirley Rodrigues said: “We’re delighted to see The Meetings Show joining the fight to reduce food waste. We estimate that food waste, including food packaging, makes up around 30 per cent of London’s municipal waste. The Mayor has set strong targets in his Environment strategy to cut food waste by 50 per cent by 2030.

“Through our London Business Climate Leaders programme we’ve worked with major businesses to help them become more sustainable and cut emissions. It’s great to see the capital’s events and hospitality sectors are joining us to tackle this challenge.”

Marcus Gover, CEO of WRAP, said: “We will not tackle the impact of global warming if we don’t fix the food system, and everyone needs to play their part. If everyone in the hospitality and foodservice industry put as much passion into reducing waste as they do into creating delicious food, it would make a massive difference to cutting the damage food waste is doing to our planet. Guardians of Grub provides the tools to help everyone to reduce food waste without compromising on quality, or customer experience, and save money. It’s a double win; for the environment and for business.”

Meanwhile, Northstar Meetings Group has agreed to a ‘Better Meetings, Better Future’ partnership with Positive Impact and will be looking to introduce similar pledges across its portfolio of events. The company produces more than 80 face-to-face events in 13 countries in retail travel, hospitality, corporate travel, travel technology, sports travel, and the meetings and incentive industry.

For more information about The Meetings Show, visit www.themeetingsshow.com. EDGE Venues will exhibiting – make sure you pop by our stand to say hello!

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Sustainability is beyond “hang up your towel” at Scandic Hotels

Sustainability is becoming increasingly important to customers when choosing a hotel or venue destination. Having a few low-key green features is not enough as clients seek hotels that match their values and positions on environmental issues. When it comes to sustainability, Scandic Hotels, the chain that pioneered the “hang up your towel” initiative 25 years ago, continues to stand out for its award-winning approach.

Scandic Hotels is the largest hotel company in the Nordic countries with 280 hotels at 130 destinations and close to 18,000 team members who understand the value of thinking sustainably.

The company ranks high in the Sustainable Brand Index, the annual survey that ranks how the biggest brands in the Nordic countries manage environmental and corporate social responsibility. In 2018, Scandic was named best in the industry in Sweden for the eighth consecutive year.

“Awareness of responsible travel is growing and today, a hotel’s sustainability credentials come into play early on in the customer relationship,” says Vanessa Butani, Director of Sustainable Business at Scandic Hotels. “Creating great hotel experiences for people also means showing that we take responsibility for the planet and society.”

Scandic was one of the first hotels in the Nordic countries to start reporting its environmental data and today, each hotel closely monitors waste and emissions. Combined with a number of eco-measures, careful monitoring has helped the company reduce CO2 emissions substantially.

Scandic was also a forerunner in environmental certification for its hotels. Today, almost all Scandic hotels are environmentally certified with the Swan Ecolabel or EU Ecolabel/Green Globe and run on 100 percent fossil-free energy. Some hotels are even powered by the sun.

2018 saw an increase in momentum when Scandic held a sustainability hackathon to tap the creativity of its Team Members. The event generated more than 400 innovative ideas on how the company can operate even more sustainably, Scandic is now working to evaluate and implement them.

Other green measures that help Scandic make a difference include organic breakfasts, removing single-use plastic containers from hotel rooms as the company did in 1996, and serving local water in specially designed reusable water bottles, saving about 4 million bottles per year. Incidentally, the sleek bottles sport the handprint of Swedish swimming sensation Therese Alshammar.

Reducing food waste, which is a talking point in the industry, was also an area where Scandic made a huge impact during the year. This was mainly through initiatives including using smaller plates in restaurants and selling food on digital platforms in partnership with Karma and Too Good to Go. In fact, in 2018, 89 percent of leftover food, or more than 125,000 portions, was redistributed.

2018 was also the year that Scandic banned all plastic straws and cocktail sticks (which will lead to 1.3 million fewer straws and 120,000 fewer sticks used each year). Scandic also committed to phasing out eggs from caged hens at all hotels by 2022.

Scandic’s restaurants launched the meat-free Beyond Burger, selling more than 15,000 in Sweden alone during the first month, with the expectation of selling 12 tons of plant-based food instead of meat in a year.

The company also brought its best practice and know-how on sustainability to the table last year by collaborating with 13 other leading hotels as a member of the International Tourism Partnership (ITP).

Scandic knows well that having a strong sustainability profile is in its long-term interest, which is why the company has ambitious sustainability goals for 2020. These include being the hotel company with the lowest emissions and reducing waste. Thanks to initiatives such as selling leftover food, Scandic already reached its waste reduction target in 2018.

“Scandic has been working to operate more sustainably for more than 25 years. While we’re proud of our achievements, we strive to get better every day. With our 18,000 team members, we know that we can make an impact.”

Here are 5 ways to make your next event greener:

  • Ask the supplier you’re thinking about working with about their sustainability program.
  • Serve plant-based food as the default and let guests opt in for meat, chicken or fish.
  • One third of all food is thrown out. Remind guests to try to minimize food waste from the start.
  • Choose sustainable transport to and from your destination/venue.
  • Put sustainability on the agenda at your event. Go paperless, pay attention to details like reusable cutlery and crockery, water bottles and cloth napkins, choose locally-sourced food and products and recycle all waste.