PECT are offering food waste training as part of their Cool Food Pro project.
As climate temperatures and food prices rise alongside inflation, one way that organisations can cut carbon and costs is by reducing their canteens’ food waste.
Food waste is a significant contributor to climate change, since the energy used for producing, processing, and transporting food is ultimately wasted when food is uneaten and thrown away. In fact, if food waste was a country, it would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China and the USA.
A notoriously complex issue to tackle, Peterborough’s sustainability charity, PECT, is offering organisations a free waste audit and reduction training to make economic and environmental savings a simple process.
Karen Igho, PECT’s food waste expert, says, “Reducing food waste has many benefits for our planet and our pockets. When organisations have the tools to tackle it, they can make significant savings. Those who have taken part in the Cool Food Pro food waste programme have collectively saved over 10 tonnes of CO2e in just three months. That’s an economic saving of over £11,000. If we are to achieve a 50% reduction in food waste per capita by 2030, we all need to do our bit (UN sustainable development target 12.3).”
The food waste support programme forms part of the Interreg-funded, Cool Food Pro project, designed to guide caterers across England and France on how to reduce their environmental footprint via a free-to-use carbon calculator. With PECT’s support, workplaces, schools, and hospital restaurants can receive free one-to-one guidance and training, allowing them to track their environmental savings using the Cool Food Pro calculator.
The project has a total budget of €1,58mil of which €1,09mil has been co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund via the Interreg France (Chanel) England programme. There are four other partners: Soil Association, Université of Bretagne Occidentale, Maison de l’Agriculture Biologique du Finistère, and LABOCEA.
Caterers and organisations have until the end of September 2022 to register their interest in PECT’s food waste support programme. To find out more and express an interest, please visit coolfoodpro.net or email [email protected].