The conference covered the latest trends and innovations in areas such as carbon offsetting, sustainable packaging and ethical sourcing.
The Carbon Challenge asked four brands to pitch a plan for cutting one tonne of CO2 from their business in front of the conference audience. The entrepreneurs taking to the stage were Frankie Fox of foodloop, Lex Thornely of Blue Goose Coffee, Yolanda Antonopoulou of Gaia Pulses and Gregor Sey of Savora Drinks.
Gaia Pulses, which creates heritage Greek vegan meals, delivered hot to customers in sustainable packaging, secured a cheque for £3,000 and a free stand at the 2023 edition of IFE, International Food & Drink Event.
Antonopoulou commented: “Sustainability is the reason our company Gaia Pulses exists. At the Summit, food and drink entrepreneurs proved that they care along with 92% of UK adults who admit to being concerned about plastic pollution. Now Boroughs and Governments need to keep up with their commitments towards the necessary environmental policies and infrastructure.
“It seems unreal that still in the UK in 2022 only 43% of the plastic waste gets recycled with 54 million metric tonnes getting exported mainly to Turkey which unsurprisingly happens to be the worst country in the world at managing waste on the Global Waste Index. We all need to work together and make real change happen so that we can all have a future on this planet.”
Sustainability is a key issue for IFE, which works closely with charity partner City Harvest each year to reduce food waste around the event. The 2022 edition of IFE saw 12.9 tonnes of food donated to City Harvest, 30,828 meals delivered to charities to feed their communities and 49.3 tonnes of CO2e emissions prevented.
IFE event director Philippa Christer added: “Sustainability is one of the defining challenges for the food & drink industry and it was great to conclude such an insightful day of content by hearing from start-up businesses tackling the issue head on and building sustainability into the core of their business. Huge congratulations to Yolanda and we can’t wait to see what Gaia Pulses does with this opportunity.”