UK venue Olympia London has announced it has reduced food waste by 17%, just four months into a campaign of engaging organisers, catering partners and staff.
With the UN estimating that over a third of all food produced is going to waste, Olympia London – which has sent zero waste to landfill for over ten years – decided, last September, to tackle the issue and partner with the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) national campaign ‘Guardians of Grub’ to track food waste onsite by measuring spoilage, preparation, inedible and plate waste.
Olympia London encouraged employees to measure their own food waste and share tips on portion control, all via the venue’s internal communications channels.
Motivating event organisers and getting them involved before their shows was crucial to the campaign, Olympia’s management says.
In 2018, the venue revealed, it collected 43 tonnes of food waste but, after four initial months of the WRAP campaign, the venue reduced its total by 17% with 35.5 tonnes reported in 2019.
Eleanor Morris, Sector Specialist Hospitality & Food Service WRAP, said: “This is a fantastic achievement by Olympia London, and we are delighted that our Guardians of Grub campaign helped support this important drive. Olympia London has shown that by raising awareness of food waste, and tackling the problem in a measured and holistic way, we can stop good food going to waste. This programme has been a great success both for the benefit of the participating businesses, for the environment, and in showing the public that there is no place for food waste at any Olympia London event.”
With more organisers interested in the topic, the London venue said it would continue its food waste programme in 2020 and expects to report further reductions in due course.
Abbey Short, Catering Manager at Olympia London, said: “Each area of our business is different so we have to adapt the way we measure to suit each operation, ensuring we capture all stats. We will continue to engage with our customers, visitors and colleagues to understand behaviours around food waste, and work collaboratively until we can say ‘we are a zero‐food waste venue’ in addition to zero to landfill”.
To read the full case study, including participating events, internal initiatives and service partners actions, click here.
