Eight percent of global greenhouse gas emissions come from food waste . With 4.4 million meals served every day, Elior Group has made the fight against food waste one of the key areas of focus of its Positive Foodprint Plan CSR strategy, which commits to recycling or reusing 100% of food waste by 2025.

This commitment concerns all Group stakeholders, from farm to fork, and is underpinned by promoting more responsible eating habits. Reducing food waste will enable the Group to optimize costs and help slow down climate change and deforestation. 

To achieve its goal to recycle 100% of food waste by 2025, Elior Group has drawn up a zero-waste food charter with a view to preventing, reducing and recycling food waste at every stage of the value chain, in all of the countries where the Group operates.

1- Optimize production with Group teams, clients and suppliers

By adjusting production to better match the needs of its guests, Elior Group can avoid creating unconsumed raw material waste. The Group commits to ensure efficient forecasting and ordering, and to optimizing foodstuff management. These actions, alongside employee training, will reduce food waste.

2- Raise awareness of guests to adopting more responsible eating habits

Serving the right size of meal portions also contributes to preventing food waste. Elior Group pays close attention to, and adapts the size of the food portions it serves. The Group informs and raises the awareness of its guests by sharing tips on how to reduce food waste both at home and in the restaurant. The fight against food waste also means concocting recipes that are better adapted to satisfy guests' tastes and needs. The tastier the meal, the less amount of food wasted.

3- Recycle food waste with partners

Recycling is an essential process which transforms food into fuel or fertilizer. The Group works hand in hand with its partners to recycle the food waste it produces and transform it into a source of energy (methane) or fertilizer that can be reused on the farms where its food produce is sourced.

By committing to reducing food waste at every level of the value chain, Elior Group has adopted a cradle-to-cradle (C2C) approach so as to ensure that part of the Group's food waste is reused in the farms that grow the food products served in its restaurants. The aim of the Group’s zero-waste food charter is to continuously reduce the amount of unsold food and, failing that, ensure that all unused volumes are reused or recycled so as to close the food waste loop.