Accor, the largest operator of hotels in Singapore, is committed to reducing its food waste by 30% in the same year the Singapore government has launched the Year of Zero Waste. As part of World Earth Day celebrations, the hotel group hosted a community event around the theme “Love Food, Not Waste” to show locals how to reinvent and re-use leftovers to reduce food waste. The guest speaker at the event was seven-year-old eco warrior Romy de Graaf, who shared her vision to save the earth for future generations.
Singapore’s food waste has risen by 40% over the past ten years to 809,000 tonnes in 2017, which represents around 140 kilos of food per person. Globally, around one third of all food production is wasted – enough to feed everyone who is hungry.
“Singaporeans love their food, but we can no longer ignore the impact of food waste on the environment and continue to consume more and waste more than we need,” said Jessica Uekermann, General Manager Ibis Singapore on Bencoolen and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Champion for Accor Singapore. “At Accor, we want to offer our guests an authentic culinary experience with high-quality, healthy and sustainable food while reducing our food waste footprint.
“In an industry where waste is common, today’s restaurant operating model is no longer sustainable. Accor is taking the lead towards positive transformation in the food industry and we hope to inspire more Singaporeans to get on board to do their bit, whether it’s at home or when dining out.”
As part of its Planet 21 sustainability charter, Accor has made food waste reduction a key priority and has pledged to reduce its waste by 30% to 2021. It will do this through a number of initiatives including measuring and reporting kitchen waste; reducing quantities on buffets; educating guests, partners and staff; and providing useable food items to organisations such as the Singapore Food Bank and treatsure to ensure those in need can benefit from surplus food rather than sending it to waste. In addition, the group uses sustainable seafood and local and organic food wherever possible. As a further commitment to the environment, Accor is also one of nine founding organisations to have signed on to WWF’s PACT commitment to reducing single-use plastics in Singapore.
“We need people to buy or order only what they need and to recycle any extra food to disadvantaged people because the planet can’t continue with the pressure we are putting on it at the moment,” said Romy de Graaf who founded the Save the Environment Club at the Australian International School in Singapore. “Children are very aware of the impacts of climate change but we need adults to realise that unless they change their behaviour, we are going to ruin the planet and we won’t be able to grow enough to feed everyone.”
Accor has 15 hotels and 50 restaurants and bars across Singapore under the Raffles, Fairmont, Sofitel, Swissotel, Novotel, Grand Mercure, Mercure and Ibis brands, and serves close to 20,000 meals per day.
At the Love Food Not Waste event, Sofitel Singapore City Centre’s Executive Chef Jean-Charles Dubois, shared useful tips on food waste management and showed residents of Tanjong Pagar how to give a new life to surplus ingredients.
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