Multi

Sustainable catering

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Objectives

• opt for sustainable catering to reduce the negative impact on the environment
• subcontract local caterers and suppliers who will positively impact the local/regional economy

Green Value indicator

• Eco footprint
• Energy intensity

Example of CO2 calculation for catering services. The calculation can be based on:

• Food procurement
• Direct energy consumption of food production
• Internal logistics
• EMC: Environmentally Weighted Material Consumption
• Production-based CO2 Productivity
• Water Consumption by Sector
• SPI: Sustainable Process Index
• Water abstraction rates and water stress

Explanation

What and how we drink, eat, and throw away has always had an impact on the environment and our health and well-being. The main goal of this practice is to present some examples of sustainable catering, to reduce the negative impact on the environment. Simultaneously, subcontracting (sustainable) local caterers and suppliers will positively impact the local/regional economy.

Catering represents a significant part of project management, as there are different kinds of events and meetings to be implemented during a project lifecycle. Not only it is important that the event taking place minimises the environmental impact at all stages of the production process, but it can also have a positive impact on local economy – by supporting local producers and suppliers and thus increasing overall sustainability of the event.

As not every organisation can provide in-house service and the catering services are often subcontracted, the following actions can be undertaken at an organisation level:

• adoption of a sustainable catering policy, promoting local suppliers and producers, and organic and Fairtrade certification when products cannot be produced locally; introducing its own certifications or being Certified for different activities related to sustainable catering;
• adoption of sustainable procurement policy;
• educating and informing the employees on environmental management systems and standards (e.g. ISO 14000);
• educating and informing employees on sustainable eating, nutritional principles, waste and energy management;
• conversation with the catering service/suppliers concerning the waste management;
• donating the unused food after the event;
• serving tap water;
• using reusable dinnerware, in case of single-use items using compostable ones;
• serving bite-sized snacks that require no dinnerware;
• choosing local suppliers
• less / no meat
• buying the products at zero-waste and plastic-free grocery shops
• using onsite caterers who can offer a locally sourced, healthy menu with equal amounts of vegetarian and meat options, along with special options such as gluten free meals
• ordering the correct quantity of food for the delegates
• clear labelling of food with the source of ingredients so delegates are able to make informed choices
• ordering refreshment items in bulk, such as sugar and milk to accompany teas and coffees
• donating food that is left at the event to local charities
• on-site food preparation according to consumption
• hiring a chef that makes high cuisine from ingredients that would otherwise be discarded

Other good practices
Water:
Example of Tap Water Certificate – issued by the Chamber of Public Utilities of Slovenia:

• to raise awareness on the quality of drinking tap water in Slovenia
• to promote employees’ health and reduce environmental impact
• to facilitate good practice in organisations
• main goal: for organisations to serve only drinking tap water in their facilities (among employees, at meetings, events …)

Food choices:

• develop menus which contain seasonal products to reduce food air miles
• re-formulate meals based on daily or weekly regional availability and if possible, commit to a target of offering 75% fresh food on site
• offer more local fruits, vegetables
• provide a basket of fruit (apples, pears) in the office
• take account of whole life cycle costs where applicable to ensure sustainability and minimise impact on the environment
• demand GMO (genetically modified organism) free foods
• participate in campaigns such as “a day without meat”, “meat free Monday”, “veggie Thursday”, etc.).

Food Supply:

• request that products be delivered in returnable crates to reduce packaging
• buy products with less packaging or with renewable packaging
• purchase groceries wholesale in large amounts and from regional producers (less travel, less generated waste, lower emissions)
• evaluate, with as much precision as possible, how much food should be bought
• avoid prepared products or single unit packaging (milk, sugar, butter, etc.)
• collect/preserve reusable containers for the office, so employees can take home leftovers

Table service:

• provide salad garnish, butter portions, etc. on request to minimise waste
• use reusable coffee filters
• encourage participants to bring their own cups in exchange for free coffee
• propose that tap water should be provided in a carafe
• limit as much as possible drinks from single-person bottles
• if you cannot use linen napkins, favour paper towels made from 100% post-consumer recycled fibre and give one to each person (soiled paper towels are not recyclable!)
• print menus on recyclable material or use blackboards to reduce the need for printing daily menus
• value used oils (a growing number of companies offer commercial collection services)

Tableware:

• if you have to use plastic glasses, choose recyclable ones
• an interesting alternative to plastic and reusable dishware is biodegradable or compostable dishware – but this requires the use of specific sorting bins and precise sorting because the presence of heavy metals in bleached paper can affect the composting process

Waste:

• using reusable tableware necessitates a more elaborate collection process - but allows for efficient disposal of the various wastes by customers prior to returning the dirty tableware
• organise waste sorting and recycling
• put in place an organic waste recovery system

PROS/CONS of the action

Pros:

• relatively easy to implement
• less plastic (also single use)
• lower impact on the environment
• helping local suppliers/producers
• helping people in need by donating food that was not used at the event (social impact)

Cons:

• more work and organisation with arranging the catering
• probably a bit more expensive, as products with organic and FairTrade certification tend to be more expensive, although it’s actually the “real” price of food;

Certified

Tap Water Certificate Socially Responsible Employer certificate (DOD) (sustainability one of the four pillars) Supergostinec (“SuperCaterer”) (based on the Plastic Busters project (Interreg MED) and SUP Directive, developed by the CCIS’s Environmental Protection Department)

Link to useful sources

Catering for sustainability: Making the case for sustainable diets in foodservice assets.wwf.org.uk

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Calculating the environmental impact of catering services. ec.europa.eu

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Plastics: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) www.youtube.com

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