On Friday 25 January, more than 120 hotel representatives and entrepreneurs have gathered at LUX* Le Morne to attend the “Zero Food Waste Forum”, which is dedicated to hotels in Mauritius. For this first edi-tion, LUX* Le Morne has collaborated with FoodWise, an NGO in Mauritius dedicated to rescuing fresh surplus food, in order to raise consciousness on the impact of food waste and to educate hotels on how to use their food surpluses more wisely and effectively.
If one quarter of the food wasted across the world could be saved, it would be possible to feed 815 million people who suffer from hunger and malnutrition. It is also important to consider that food waste has nefa-rious consequences on the environment; it is one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases in the world. Correspondingly, economic impact should not be ignored; According to a study by Winnow, an internatio-nal organization, 25% of the food bought in hotels go to waste.
The ONG, Champions 12.3 on the other hand believes that an investment to eliminate food waste will yield a significant return of investment in hotels within 3 years. All these factors encourage LUX* to conso-lidate their commitment towards humanity and the environment.
“One third of the world’s production goes to the bin, each year. It is outrageous! Food wastage is something that should concern each and every one of us, from the manufacturer to the consumer because it has a threatening effect on the economic, environmental and social plan. While it is good to raise awa-reness, we should, more importantly, react! It is for this very reason that our hotel has organized this fo-rum, so that we can share the best practices for sustainability”, explains Jeremy de Fombelle, General Ma-nager at LUX* Le Morne.
In order to combat food wastage, LUX* adopts three main approaches “refuse, reuse, recycle”
Refuse: The ultimate aim is not to manage surplus, but to eliminate the very possibility of wastage. During the forum, several chefs from different hotels have explained their strategies of eliminating wastage. They suggest that chefs should measure the food that has been thrown away, and to consequently reduce the size of the portions, to revisit or reinvent recipes with peelings, or to reduce the cooking time.
Reuse: If wastage has not been reduced, the surplus could be given to ONGs like FoodWise, les Cuisines Solidaires or Manzer Partazer so that they can redistribute the food to disadvantaged families
Recycle: If food wastage becomes inevitable, it is nevertheless possible to convert them into energy by producing biogas or by transforming the waste into compost or fertilizer.
