The waste2zero awards aim to give the foodservice industry a platform to showcase what organisations have done to reduce their waste and food waste.
Sodexo provides catering contracts to the public sector at hospitals, schools and prisons.
Sodexo received the award for the actions it has taken to eliminate single-use plastics from its operations in the UK and Ireland. They were one of the first organisations to remove plastic straws in May 2018 and Sodexo made a public commitment to phase out single-use plastic bags and polystyrene cups.
This autumn Sodexo teamed up with the Marine Conservation Society (MSC) to help the Beach Clean initiative. The 52 Sodexo staff removed over 12kg of waste from Brighton, Sand Bay, Mapleton and West Kirby beaches (this included 3,808 plastic pieces and 300 cotton bud sticks).
Megan Horsburgh, head of diversity & inclusion at 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.”
The 2019 WasteLESS Week campaign is currently underway and this year is not only focussing on plastic waste but also food waste.