The one-day event focused on helping public sector caterers deliver sustainable catering services whilst remaining commercial.
Matthew White, TUCO Chair said: “What a thrilling and inspiring event this was. This was an opportunity to meet people running companies which have set out to put planet before profit yet have still delivered commercially. The take-homes for our members are huge. We saw speaker after speaker deliver innovative ways to be both sustainable and successful.”
Highlights included Louise Whitaker from Bewley’s who inspired delegates with an in-depth look at coffee cups and plastic. Whitaker suggested that despite ‘throwaway living’ being more unpopular than ever, 40% of plastics still go to landfill with huge consequences for human and marine life.
Hugh Jones, programme area manager for Food Waste Prevention in Wales at WRAP, discussed the broader issues of food waste, highlighting the organisations mission to re-invent, re-think and re-define our attitude to waste.
Other speakers included Ben Greensmoth, UK country manager at Tony’s Chocoleny, who addressed social value. Helen Harwatt an environmental social scientist at Harvard University, Dr Marco Springmann a senior researcher in population health from Oxford University and Nick Waring from Jimmy’s Iced Coffee also spoke on sustainable issues.
The speaker sessions were closed by Randy Rampersad, founder of The Green Vic and The Better World Group, who delivered a presentation on sustainability and social value.