As a result of working with FareShare since 2014, Compass has saved an estimated 977,884 meals as of March 2023 from going to waste.
Simon Millard, FareShare’s food director, said: “We rely on organisations like Compass to provide much-needed food to our network of 9,500 charities across the UK. This reduces food going to waste and also provides essential support to communities during the cost of living crisis. Never has our work been so vital.”
Tackling food waste is an important part of Compass Group UK & Ireland’s Climate Net Zero by 2030 ambition, which includes a commitment to halve food waste. At site level Compass has committed to the roll out of its food waste recording system, which supports the accurate measurement and reduction of waste.
Compass will now report on food waste across five categories: out of date, plate, post-production, pre-production and retail. Stop Food Waste Day, which was launched by Compass Group USA in 2017, is an annual event with the aim of raising awareness around the issue.
To celebrate Stop Food Waste Day some of the activities that took place with clients, consumers and the wider industry include:
- Headquarters in Chertsey hosted a food waste menu, created by the participants of its Forward with Marcus Wareing programme
- Chartwells, Compass’ education catering specialists, has been running a #Wastewarrior campaign encouraging teams to share best practice tips
- Sports and entertainment sector Levy UK+I served ‘zero waste’ dishes at some of its sites
- One Retail is now using Too Good To Go in over 100 sites and continues work to roll this out
- Compass’ Healthcare division continues to use The Cuisine Centre’s Steamplicity concept, which is proven to reduce food waste to 2.5%.
- Restaurant Associates has been running a best food waste innovation competition
Ashleigh Taylor, head of environment at Compass Group UK & Ireland, added: “Stop Food Waste Day is a great platform for us to raise awareness of this important issue – but it is so much more than one day and it’s our focus to tackle this problem and create a real impact in driving forward the agenda.
"It’s great to see action across our business, but what I love most is that we’re seeing suppliers, customers, colleagues and businesses around the globe support this initiative.”