Monday, May 20, 2024
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In one year it has saved 921,824 kilograms of food waste and tens of millions of euros just by watching what is wasted.
Source: Colpisa
A total of 2,895,272 tons of food waste thrown away. This is how much food ended up in the Spanish garbage cans in 2023. Fruit skins, expired products, others in poor condition or, simply, too much food. Hundreds of euros thrown away, 250 euros per person per year, according to some estimates. This bill burns a hole in the pockets of families and is a disruption for many companies.
"Sometimes it's just the stalk," said Rafael Carmona, Sustainability Operations Global Director at Iberostar. "Others are the tops of a vegetable," he added. "These can be used to make a good base," he claimed. A good cook not only excels at tasty recipes but also makes the most of what they have. This hotel group has saved 921,824 kg of organic food waste in 2023 with just one action: installing cameras in the garbage bins in their kitchens.
"Our technology does not dig into the bins," the Winnow supervisor noted. This London-based company has opened the doors of many kitchens. "We are in more than 2000 kitchens in 77 countries around the world" Their job? Seeing what ends up in the trash cans. "Can we use AI similar to a driverless car" "We found it at a food technology trade fair," Carmona explained.
This innovative system, which raised more than 10 million euros in 2023, consists of a camera, a motion sensor, and a scale. When a food enters the bin, the sensor takes a photograph. "Initially, you have to tell it what you have thrown away, but then the technology learns," the Iberostar executive explained. The scale also calculates the weight. "We are able to determine which item has been thrown away and at what stage of preparation," British technicians described in detail.
With this information, the company provides its customers with daily and weekly reports, which allow the supervisors in the kitchen to know which items are being wasted, in which service, and in what amounts. For the Hilton chain, its managers "realized that many of the bakery items for breakfast were too large," according to Winnow.
But this technology is not limited to just calculating the cost of food that is thrown away, it is also capable of analyzing the preparation of food, as well as the leftovers on dishes returned to the kitchen. "Up to 20% of the food purchased by commercial kitchens is wasted", they explained. "We have reduced our rate by 12% in one year with this solution," highlighted Rafael Carmona.
Millions saved
Globally, one billion meals per day and 1,050 million tons of food waste, including non-edible parts, ended up in landfills in 2022. This food waste represents a carbon footprint of 3.3 billion tons of greenhouse gases expressed as CO2 equivalent. "Although the figure may be higher due to poor data in certain countries," stated the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) last March.
Food waste not only has an impact on the planet but also on accounts. According to the FAO, there is an estimated loss of €368 billion each year. This solution, according to its managers, has prevented 78,000 tons of CO2e emissions per year since its creation a decade ago and has saved losses of over 50 million euros. "It's a big problem, but I believe it can be solved," they assured.
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