Sodexo has announced it has diverted 174 tonnes of food from landfill, 14 months into its three-year pledge with Yume. The amount represents more than half its 2021 Yume pledge of 300 tonnes of food waste prevented in three years.
Sodexo has now announced an increased pledge of an additional 375 tonnes by 2025. Since taking the Yume pledge, Sodexo has continued to increase its commitments year-on-year.
Last year, Sodexo became one of twelve corporates to sign the Australian Food Pact.
Katy Barfield, Yume founder and CEO, said identifying sustainable supply chain alternatives was vital to reducing Australia’s annual 7.6 million tonne food waste problem and responding to food price inflation and supply-chain bottlenecks.
“It is great to see large procurers of food like Sodexo, be early adopters of innovative technologies like Yume and play a pivotal role in finding a solution to our food-waste issue. We encourage more food solution providers to join us, so together we can end food waste in Australia,” said Barfield.
Sodexo’s partnership with Yume forms its Better Tomorrow corporate responsibility roadmap that drives the company’s focus on reducing waste and emissions.
Keith Weston, Sodexo Australia’s managing director said global citizens all had a responsibility to address the food waste and hunger in Australia.
“The majority of us have children who we want to see grow up on a saved planet. The belief that we can and should do better inspires us as a business to make sustainable and environmental choices for a Better Tomorrow,” said Weston.
Sodexo Australia’s other actions toward the prevention of food loss and waste include:
- Implementation of purpose-built WasteWatch by Leanpath technology to create an average of 50 per cent reduction in food waste on remote sites;
- introduction of food safety digitalisation through an IoT temperature monitoring system, resulting in a 30 per cent reduction in food spoilage incidents on sites that have implemented the system;
- mobilising a long-standing WasteLess Week public behaviour change campaign across sites each year;
- and continued investment in training, resources and innovation as a Food Pact Signatory and attendee at the 2022 annual National Food Waste Summit.
Sodexo was the first corporate buyer to take the Yume Pledge in 2018, committing to purchase high-quality surplus food on a large scale to prevent commercial food waste.
