Combatting food waste

Sep. 29, 2022

This 29th of September, we are celebrating International Food Waste Day and the opportunity for us to showcase our initiatives.

Sodexo Luxembourg is committed to reducing its carbon emissions by 34% by 2025. One of the ways in which we aim to achieve this goal is by reducing food waste.

Our action to reduce food waste is part of a sustainable development approach to avoid generating organic waste, but also and above all part of an ethical approach: we consider that it is not acceptable to throw away food that is still edible. Out of respect for nature, out of respect for those who don't get enough to eat every day, out of respect for the work of the producer, and out of respect for our chefs who prepare the products. We serve more than 35,000 meals a day and we are convinced that we have a role to play in raising awareness of the issues surrounding food waste in Luxembourg.

At Sodexo, food waste is reduced in two stages:

Via Leanpath connected scales, which are used to weigh the plates during food preparation and after the meal
Via the Phenix app

With Phenix - installed in our restaurants and cafeterias - consumers get the chance to purchase the surplus and unsold goods of the day at reduced prices (-50%) at the end of the service. Available meals and products are published in the partner app.

This system has been gradually rolled out since September 2021, and the app is now in use at 7 Sodexo sales points, with others soon to follow.

Over the past year, a total of 1125 baskets have been sold, representing 807kg of food that has not been thrown away. That’s equal to over 2.5 tons of CO2 saved.

We’re very pleased with these highly encouraging results and plan to keep up the good work!