23 August 2024
What can we learn from the biggest kitchen in the world to help tackle food waste in our own community?
Paris, the capital of gastronomy. Where Michelin-starred chefs learn how to poach the perfect eggs and master the art of food plating. Playing host to the 2024 Olympic Games is undoubtedly an incredible opportunity to showcase the best of French cuisine. What’s also firmly on the organiser’s agenda is sustainability.
The Games aim to half their carbon footprint compared with that of the 2012 Games in London and 2016 in Rio. They’ve also drawn up a Food Vision to make sure 100% of uneaten food is recycled and 80% of unavoidable food waste is recovered for composting or anaerobic digestion. That’s after the catering teams have fed 15,000 athletes across 17 days and 14 competition sites as well the Olympic Village!
If the biggest kitchen in the world can do it, what can we learn from the Games to help tackle food waste at home and in our community?
1. Plan ahead
With athletes from more than 200 countries and territories, it seems like a good idea to find out what their food preferences and expectations are beforehand. That’s exactly what the organiser did. They asked more than 200 athletes about their cultural and nutritional needs, so they could design menus that would meet the athletes’ requirements while prioritising seasonal ingredients to minimise carbon footprint.
The organiser also asked the athelets how they could help make the Games more sustainable. It was very encouraging to see “combating food waste” as one of five key actions they felt could be taken. The athletes went further to suggest “reducing serving sizes and offering second helpings to prevent food waste”, which was implemented at the Games where caterers served food on smaller containers to prompt people to rethink portion sizes.
If meal planning is possible at an Olympic scale, we can absolutely do this at home. How many people are you cooking for this week? Who’s staying home and who’s going away? Who’s coming round for Sunday lunch? Then buy what you need and try to buy seasonal too. Find out what’s in season with a quick online search and plan your menu accordingly.
2. Sharing is caring
A staggering 10 million people in France do not have enough food to eat, according to Valerie de Margerie, president of Le Chainon Manquant, one of the charities receiving food donations from the Games. Demand at food banks has also increased in recent years from those with modest income, the RFI reported in 2023.
So it comes as no surprise that one of the Games’s six social and environmental commitments is to “recycle 100% of uneaten food”, primarily by donating them to charities to support those who need it most. The Games partnered with three French charities to redistribute any unsold and unconsumed food. So far, they have donated 60 tonnes of food which will be passed on to food banks across France, enough to make around 100,000 meals.
Sadly, we have a similar problem in the UK. The Trussell Trust found that food bank usage has seen a record high as the cost of living crisis continues to affect many individuals and families. But the good news is there are many ways you can make sure extra food doesn’t go to waste. Mobile apps like Olio and Neighbourly help you share unwanted food with neighbours or local shops. In addition, more than 600 Community Fridges across the UK offer free, fresh food in welcoming spaces.
Click here to find out more about how you can share your food with those in need.
3. Community power
They may not be wearing shiny medals around their necks, but the “Champions of Taste” deserve a huge round of applause for the important work that they do at the Games. Made up of key representatives and experts from the food industry, they are tasked by the organiser to showcase the flavour and quality of local cuisine while helping to meet the Games’ sustainability goals. Because teamwork makes the dream work, right?
Can we harness community power to tackle the food waste problem in the UK? Imagine having a team of “Champions of Waste” in our local community – from the cafe owners and restaurant chefs working on the high street and food manufacturers operating in business parks, to food banks and residents' community groups. By leveraging our combined expertise and user experience and working collaboratively to jump through any hurdles, can we defeat food waste?
4. Food waste is not wasted
Even with the best chefs and planners working at the biggest sporting event in the world, some food waste is simply unavoidable. Think all the egg shells left from baking croissants and macarons, or the chicken bones that have been meticulously removed to make coq au vin.
The Games aim to recover 80% of unavoidable food waste for composting or anaerobic digestion to produce clean energy. While food waste recycling is not a new concept in France, it only became mandatory for all households and businesses to separate their food waste in January 2024. The Games have no doubt brought this further into public consciousness.
Over in the UK, some of us are already putting food waste into our caddies and many more will be doing so when it becomes mandatory for Local Authorities in England to provide separate collections for household in March 2026. At the moment, 60% of food waste in the UK originates from our homes, so we can personally make a difference simply by filling up our food caddies. Edible or inedible, your food waste can be diverted from landfill and makes the perfect ingredient for anaerobic digestion plants to create renewable energy.
At Severn Trent Green Power, we recycle more than half a million tonnes of food waste every year at our 10 food waste AD facilities to generate enough renewable energy to power more than 100,000 homes and create a nutrient-rich bio-fertiliser that can be spread back to land as a soil improver to help grow even more food. Find out where we operate and how we can help meet your recycling needs.