Environmental Leadership 2023

If food waste were a country, it would be the third highest emitter of greenhouse gases after the USA and China, according to a United Nations estimate.

That’s a statistic which drove Eurest, a contract caterer trusted to nourish millions of people in UK workforces, to think about its own impact.

Eurest provides food and beverage services across 700 sites, serving over 4.5m meals per year.

So, when Compass Group outlined a commitment to Net Zero in 2021, followed by a Climate Net Zero Campaign in 2022, it was clear food waste had to be tackled.

Driven by Managing Director (Compass B&I), Morag Freathy, and taken up by Head of Nutrition & Sustainability Rees Bramwell, Eurest began an ambitious campaign to halve its food waste by 2025.

Built on robust and exhaustive measurement of the entire waste hierarchy, with data analysed by innovative software, it has produced strong results – and delivered a complete culture change.

In under two years, Eurest has reduced its food waste by 40% (on target for that 50% goal) and has emerged as a thought leader in the sustainability space.

It has also transformed its menu to facilitate more sustainable food service, including a chef-inspired Plenty range of innovative recipes that incorporate leftover food, including cuttings, peel and even coffee grounds – saving them from landfill.

Also, research with the University of Oxford have seen Eurest become the first contract caterer in the UK to include sustainability labelling on its menus – with learning shared across the industry.

The Environmental Leadership award 2023 was sponsored by Water Plus