WasteWatch Data-driven Food Waste Prevention

Sodexo’s commitment to deploy smart food waste measurement technology at 3,000 sites around the world represents the largest initiative of its kind announced in the restaurant and foodservice industry.

According to the United Nations, around one-third of the world’s food goes to waste. To produce this food we need land, water, energy, and transportation, which all comes at an environmental cost. It’s apparent just how much of important food-waste prevention is to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Sodexo has introduced initiatives to address this throughout the ‘food waste lifecycle’, from supply chain and production, to the kitchen, plate and beyond.

WasteWatch, powered by Leanpath technology, is a measurement system that allows kitchen staff to understand what’s thrown away, and why, in real-time. It enables our kitchen teams to easily identify efficiencies, and make informed choices about menus and operating procedures, all backed up by real-time data. 

Sodexo’s commitment to deploy smart food waste measurement technology at 3,000 sites around the world represents the largest initiative of its kind announced in the restaurant and foodservice industry. As a leading company in Facilities Management, Catering and Food Services, we endeavour to make a tremendous collective impact on food waste on a global scale.

Australia has implemented WasteWatch across all relevant food service sites in 2022, well ahead of Sodexo Group’s 2025 timeline.

• 58 sites in Australia have implemented WasteWatch technology
• 64,000 individual waste ‘transactions’ recorded on the Leanpath trackers, reflecting more than 348 tonnes in food waste
• Prevented 139.5 tonnes of food waste across active sites, worth over $417,000
• Saved the equivalent of 256,272 meals
• Prevented 972 tonnes of carbon emissions

* impact in Australia during the first 18 months of deployment as of July 2021

Results from Sodexo sites around the world have shown the WWxLP program to reduce food waste by 50% on average, which translates to a 2-3% reduction in food costs, a significant saving for large mining operations.

Encouraging measurement and reporting of food waste is a crucial step to tackling the problem. The combination of technology and behaviour change can be very powerful.

Beyond the program’s impact on creating more sustainable and zero-waste operations, WasteWatch has enabled numerous operational savings and efficiencies, such as labour time and waste management savings. We’ve also been able to stimulate client and consumer engagement on the topic of food waste through use of the program at our sites, raising awareness of the issue and what can be done about it. The WasteWatch program has led to behavioural change across teams and individuals in support of ending avoidable food waste.

As a service provider, Sodexo can also help clients to manage their own emissions.