Sodexo, a leading global services company, has received the award for the best waste prevention project (non-food) at the annual waste2zero Awards which are specifically aimed to give the foodservice industry a platform to showcase best practice and recognise excellence in this vital area.

Sodexo received the award for the actions it has taken to eliminate single-use plastics from its operations in the UK and Ireland. 

waste2zero Awards LogoWaste is one of Sodexo’s biggest collective challenges and it sees prevention as a key step in addressing it. Sodexo will always endeavour to prevent waste where it can.  

Sodexo’s actions and achievements in this area include a partnership with Simply Cups, the UK’s only paper and plastic cup collection and recycling service and was one of the first to remove plastic straws and stirrers from its operations in May 2018. 

At the same time Sodexo made a public commitment to phase out single-use plastic bags and polystyrene items such as cups, lids and food containers by 2020 and has made environmentally friendly alternatives to plastic disposables widely available in its business.

Sodexo has this autumn teamed up with the Marine Conservation Society (MSC) and so far, 52 Sodexo colleagues have volunteered their time to help the MSC’s Beach Clean initiative. Their efforts resulted in over 12kg of waste being removed from Brighton, Sand Bay, Mappleton and West Kirby beaches during the 100-metre monitored cleans. This included 3,808 small plastic pieces and 300 cotton bud sticks. Not only did Sodexo employees clear plastic/waste items that could have harmed marine life their efforts have enabled vital data to fuel MCS litter campaign and help affect real change.

At the waste2zero awards Sodexo was also named runner-up in the Best Waste Project Communication & Stakeholder Engagement Award for its annual WasteLESS Week employee, client and consumer engagement campaign which is held every October.

waste2zero AwardsThe 2019 WasteLESS Week campaign is currently underway, and this year continues the focus on reducing the use of plastics, with tools and resources also available on other critical areas such as food waste.  

Megan Horsburgh, head of D&I and CR, Sodexo UK and Ireland said: “We are thrilled to have received this award and our thanks go to our teams out there making a difference every day whether it’s through conversations with their clients, engaging their consumers to change their behaviour and finding ways specific to them to prevent and reduce the amount of waste our services generate.

Environmental protection is one of the key issues which we focus from a global and regional perspective. We acknowledge that action is critical to ensure that we, as responsible corporate citizen, do as much as it can to improve the quality of life of future generations and reduce the impact our business operations has on the environment.

“We continue to look at ways we can reduce our impact on the environment and look forward to hearing what our teams across the country achieve during this year’s WasteLESS Week. We can only reach our targets with the help and support from our teams delivering services to our clients and consumers every day.”

 

Pictured

From left to right:

  • Simon Mussett - Head of Waste Management, Sodexo UK & Ireland
  • David Mulcahy - Food Development & Innovation Director, Sodexo UK & Ireland
  • Tony Sullivan - Procurement Director, Bunzl
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