UAE: Hilton has announced a 62 per cent reduction in food waste after its four month Green Breakfast initiative – a food waste pilot which has taken place across 13 hotels in the UAE.
The partnership with Winnow and ne’ma, the UAE national food loss and waste initiative, has recorded a 62 per cent reduction in pre- and post-consumer food waste across breakfast operations in a four month period.
Pre-consumer waste was reduced by more than 76 per cent, and post-consumer waste was reduced by five per cent, which equates to serving more than 400,000 meals and preventing almost 726 tonnes of Co2e emissions over a year.
The pilot project began in August with the installation of production and plate waste systems across the participating hotels, where baseline data was recorded and updated until the end of November.
The initiative showed that the most wasted items at breakfast included bread and pastry, white eggs, porridge, congee, sambar, shakshuka and baked beans.
Emma Banks, vice president F&B strategy & development EMEA, Hilton said: “Through this pilot project, we were able to learn and gather data on consumer behaviour so we can build awareness and take meaningful action scalable at hotels and across the industry.
“We hope this initiative will inspire the sector to source locally and reduce food waste.”
The waste was measured using Winnow’s Artificial Intelligence measurement tools and there were weekly coaching sessions to impact behavioural change among participating hotel teams.
Strategically placed ‘behavioural nudges’, designed by ne’ma, were also placed in the dining area encouraging guests to make more sustainable choices.
Hotels involved in the pilot were: Waldorf Astoria Dubai Palm Jumeirah, Waldorf Astoria Dubai International Financial Centre, Conrad Dubai, Conrad Abu Dhabi Etihad Towers, The WB Abu Dhabi, Curio Collection by Hilton, Canopy by Hilton Dubai Al Seef, Hilton Dubai Jumeirah, Hilton Dubai Palm Jumeirah, Hilton Ras Al Khaimah Resort, Hilton Abu Dhabi Yas Island, Hampton by Hilton Marjan Island, Hampton by Hilton Dubai Al Seef, and DoubleTree by Hilton Dubai Business Bay.
Hilton recently launched carbon labelling on its UK hotel menus.
Image: Photo by mohamed hassouna on Unsplash