Enhancing education, communication and changing food choice expectations were some of the key findings taken from the M&IT Food Waste roundtable discussion that took place at Twickenham Stadium on Thursday 20 February.
Industry professionals shared their thoughts on the causes behind food waste and ideas on how to tackle the problem.
"It is about educating people as to the food journey from farm to plate and after that too. Once people have the facts then they will be more engaged to get on-board," said John Kelly, senior director marketing EMEA BCD M&E.
"We’re working on a micro-site right now that aims to give more education, top tips, examples of best practice and highlights the pioneers in the industry that are really pushing the envelope in this area. As I am sure you can imagine, something of this size is an enormous undertaking, but we’re committed to delivering this for our clients."
Abena Poku-Awuah, founder of Legacy, a sustainability-focused event agency spoke about the cultural expectation for an event to offer a variety of food choices to delegates and how this would have to be addressed first, in order to tackle the food waste problem.
“Until we deal with some of the cultural aspects, such as wanting to be seen as generous at events, wanting to be seen as flexible and providing choice, it’s going to be really difficult to deal with the food waste questions,” she said.
Kelly added that the conversation around food waste in the industry has already come a long way. “We wouldn’t have been having this conversation a year ago and give it another year, we’d be able to fill this room with passionate industry professionals who care about this cause," he said.
The full 'Food waste and the events industry' feature will be available in the May issue of M&IT magazine.
A desire to travel led Holly Patrick to the business meetings and events world and she’s never looked back. Holly takes a particular interest in event sustainability and creating a diverse and inclusive industry. When she’s not working, she can be found rolling skating along Brighton seafront listening to an eclectic playlist, featuring the likes of Patti Smith, Sean Paul, and Arooj Aftab.
