Food Waste Intelligence

Stanford University Residential & Dining Enterprises (R&DE) recently announced a goal to reduce its emissions from food purchases 25 percent by 2030.

This announcement comes shortly after the release of Stanford R&DE’s Food Waste Prevention Playbook, a guide for campuses to operationalize best practices in minimizing food waste.

Both initiatives fall under Stanford’s Scope 3 Emissions Program which was launched in 2021 to address all the indirect emissions that are influenced by the university’s operations. This includes food-related emissions, which they have been focused on through food waste reduction targets and, more recently, commitments to reducing emissions from food purchases.

Transitioning into the new year, reducing food waste remains a trending foodservice activity because it addresses so many other trending topics: 

• Food waste prevention cuts costs as inflation continues to wear on thin margins.
• Food waste prevention is the #1 most actionable thing the foodservice industry can do to address climate change as concerns over sustainability continue to rise.
• And stopping food waste from being generated leaves valuable resources in the food system as food insecurity continues to increase around the world.

Check out the video above for some inspiration on taking action on food waste this year, and keep reading to see what foodservice prognosticators had to say about why addressing food waste will continue to be top of mind for the industry in 2023:

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has partnered with Leanpath in a new effort to reduce campus food waste from Rheta's Market by 50 percent.

Leaders from all over the world are gathering in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, at COP27, the biggest climate event of the year. This event has critical implications for the pace and scale of necessary climate change efforts.

For the first time, food is central on the COP27 agenda, and Leanpath's VP of Sustainability & Public Affairs Steven Finn is attending and taking part in panel discussions on the topic.

A new international food waste pledge, the 123 Pledge, will also be announced at COP27. Leanpath has already signed on, committing to work with our client partners to prevent an amount of food waste equivalent to 50 million meals by the end of 2025.

Since partnering with Leanpath in 2008, Sodexo has saved 9,716,393 meals from going to waste in North America. Sodexo's branded food waste reduction program, WasteWatch powered by Leanpath, allows Sodexo teams to easily capture food waste data—whether food waste is generated in the kitchen or discarded by consumers—and take action to drive cultural and behavioral change to prevent that waste from reoccurring.