Sodexo Takes the Yume Pledge to Prevent 50 Tonnes of Food from Going to Waste
Australia, 2 December 2019 - Sodexo, world leader in Quality of Life services, has pledged an aim to purchase 50 tonnes of food through online surplus food marketplace Yume over the next six months, preventing it from going to waste.
Further to the prevention of unnecessary food waste, the purchase would save 3,450,000 litres of water and prevent 100,000 kilograms of CO2 emissions.
The announcement follows Sodexo’s successful purchase of nearly 65 tonnes of high-quality surplus food through Yume, meaning Sodexo has saved over 4,400,000 litres of water and prevented over 129,000 kilograms of CO2 emissions since this partnership started in mid-2018.
Yume’s mission is to create a world without waste by facilitating the sale of surplus food that may have otherwise been discarded. From feta cheese, to salmon portions, and crushed tomatoes, the food already purchased through Yume by Sodexo has primarily been distributed to mining sites, a key industry of operation for Sodexo in Australia.
An early adopter and partner of Yume’s vision in 2018, Sodexo is now the first corporate buyer to take the Yume Pledge of future food purchases. The Yume Pledge is a declaration organisations take to publicly demonstrate their commitment to working closely with Yume to help them achieve their vision of a world without waste.
We are proud to be the forerunners in making a pledge to reduce food waste through our partnership with Yume. Globally, Sodexo serves 100 million consumers every day, so we have tremendous capacity to reduce waste by improving how we deliver our services. By making this pledge, we hope to inspire other Australian companies to join the fight against food waste.
One of the latest consignments purchased by Sodexo was high-quality Australian chicken tenderloins. A large poultry processor was left with 40 tonnes of surplus chicken cuts, including the tenderloins, as a result of processing a large volume of chicken breasts to fulfil market demands. The supplier struggled to place this product with their existing customer base so turned to Yume’s network of over 2,000 buyers to find a new home for the stock. Yume connected the supplier with Sodexo (two previously unconnected sides of the marketplace) helping to alleviate this type of market imbalance. The supplier found a new home for their premium chicken and Sodexo continued to meet its goals around sustainable procurement.
Australia sends a staggering 7.3 million tonnes of food to landfill each year, 4.1 million tonnes of which is from the commercial food sector. Sodexo’s pledge to purchase an additional 50 tonnes of surplus food will have a huge environmental impact and signifies the important role corporate Australia can play in repurposing the country’s surplus food.
With 1,264,719 kilograms of produce already being diverted from landfill, 87.47 million litres of water saved, and 2,535,502 kilograms of CO2 saved, Yume is playing a key role in Australia’s food sustainability efforts.
Sodexo’s partnership with Yume is part of its Better Tomorrow 2025 corporate responsibility roadmap, with a key focus on reducing waste and stopping hunger.
For more information on Yume visit: yumefood.com.au