A More Circular Approach
For us, resource management begins with deploying innovative solutions, like food waste measurement technology, and implementing responsible alternatives, such as using eco-friendly packaging or redistributing food that would be otherwise discarded. To strengthen our commitment, we train our teams and our guests in sustainable practices, and encourage our chefs and employees to be creative and pragmatic in their implementation of environmentally friendly methods.
Fighting food waste – essential for the planet and our business
With 60% of our business linked to food and serving million consumers worldwide each day, we know how important preventing food waste is! To make sure, fighting food waste is a business priority, Sodexo has set an ambition objective to reduce by 50% the food waste of its operations by 2025. Sodexo is also the first food services company with a carbon emission reduction objective in line with the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre- industrial levels – a 34% reduction by 2025 compared to 2017. Finally, Sodexo is also the first group in its sector to link its financing to its actions to combat food waste.
Our WasteWatch program and its intelligent waste-measurement technology make it easy for our teams to collect data on food waste in our restaurants, and implement the operational and behavioral changes needed to eliminate waste produced by our kitchens or thrown out by our guests. We are making these figures public to bring a sense of urgency and motivate ourselves to continue to do better.
Packaging and recycling
Reducing single-use plastic: a vital step for the environment
Containers, boxes, cups, bowls, utensils, packaging, bags, lids, straws, stirrers… Our daily lives, our landfills, and our oceans are filled with single-use plastics. To fight the growing pollution, we propose innovative, sustainable solutions for packaging and recycling.
Single-use plastic reduction has also been included in our operational protocols to fight COVID-19. This approach prioritizes alternatives to plastic for single-use items, along with strict cleaning processes and sustainable packaging solutions in compliance with local health directives.
Working together
Whether it’s during the ordering, storage, preparation, or serving process, we work with our teams, clients, and suppliers to reduce waste at all our sites.
A More Circular Approach contributes to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:
Our Local Initiatives
Australia
In Australia, we have developed a partnership with the anti-food-waste app Yume. We committed to purchasing surplus food that would otherwise be thrown out, significantly reducing our water use and CO2 emissions.
Sweden
In Södertälje, the environmental impact of AstraZeneca’s restaurant Oazen was reduced by 67% in 2019 thanks to the acceleration program Sparx, a program supported by Sodexo, in partnership with Klimato. Sparx has generated initiatives: personnel training, paying by gram for foods consumed, plastics elimination, sustainable supplies, and optimization of the supply chain.
India
In India, we replaced nearly 8 million plastic products with their equivalent made from sustainable materials: paper straws, wooden stirrers, silver zippers, wooden cutlery, and aluminum foil wrappers.
Mission Zero Waste by Sodexo, European Economic and Social Committee
Fiscal 2021 Corporate Responsibility Report
Find out how we are having a positive impact on Individuals, Communities and the Environment in the way we do business.