The Pacific Coast Food Waste Commitment, in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund, has conducted a pilot program to involve front-line workers in the food industry in reducing food waste, Waste360 reported.
In an interview with the publication, Anne Garsztka, senior program officer for circular supply chain engagement at the WWF, shared the insights the organization had gained from the program, which were also detailed in a WasteExpo session in May.
"The goal of WWF's engagement with the PCFWC is to help food businesses accelerate progress toward their waste reduction targets," said Garsztka. "One of the earliest opportunity areas identified for driving action was engaging with front-line workers."
PCFWC engaged with front-line workers through contests as well as listening to their ideas. That wasn't just good for preventing food waste — it was also good for the businesses.
"Through this employee engagement model, not only did front-line workers feel engaged and heard, but also, in nearly all cases, there was a clear financial benefit to investing in listening to them," said Garsztka. "Most exciting was the real cultural change our team witnessed in the organizations that implemented this program."
Eliminating food waste has the potential to make a major difference. Wasted food costs the business money, a cost that has to be passed on to consumers. Meanwhile, every bite of food that goes into the trash represents an investment of energy, resources, time, and shipping distance that has now been lost.
So, how do you reduce food waste at a typical business? "The simplest change, though often the hardest, is to create a safe space to bring up issues and ideas," said Garsztka. "Empowering front-line employees to have a voice in the system and the process is a powerful catalyst. They come up with different solutions than the corporate team would."
She also cited engaged managers and clear goals as keys to success; in bilingual workplaces, the relevant materials needed to be available in all the languages spoken.
It also made a big difference to show the employees directly what kind of impact they were having.
"It's important to both quantitatively and qualitatively share the impact the food donated is having and where it is going," said Garsztka. "Some of the most successful programs in terms of employee buy-in have scheduled visits to the food donation partner agency or provided staff the opportunity to volunteer to help make that impact more tangible."
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