Sodexo Middle East, the leader in services that improve the Quality of Life, as part of its ‘Better Tomorrow 2025’ initiative and commitment to reducing waste has partnered with Leanpath, food waste prevention pioneers, to officially introduce a state-of-the-art food waste prevention programme called WasteWatch powered by Leanpath (WWxLP). Sodexo Middle East will officially launch the innovative platform across 41 sites in the Healthcare, Corporate, Energy & Resources and Defense sectors in Q3 of 2021.
Sodexo’s ‘Better Tomorrow 2025’ initiative includes eliminating waste to landfills and a 50% reduction in food waste. To achieve these objectives, Sodexo has launched the environment-friendly platform which is driven by AI algorithms that provide automated food waste data collections by measuring daily pre-consumer and post-consumer food waste by analyzing metrics such as weight, quantity, and food type.
The WWxLP collates data on food waste, identifying wastage areas, and shares operational and behavioural changes required to eliminate waste. The AI platform further enhances organizations’ food waste reduction objectives by using smart data to set waste reduction goals, which can be easily implemented within the operational processes and shares in-depth real-time insights on the financial and environmental impact created by the food wastage.
Rachid Noujeim, CEO of Sodexo Middle East says, “Sustainability has always been at the core of Sodexo’s values. Being a company that offers ‘Quality of Life’ services, we believe that a healthy climate and environment are of the utmost importance to the quality of life and human prosperity over the long term. I am confident WWxLP will support us reduce food wastage substantially and contribute to a healthier environment in line with the UAE’s sustainable development goals 2030.”
According to the UAE Ministry of Climate Change, food wastage costs the UAE an estimated $3.5 billion per year. WWxLP was designed to tackle food waste while positively impacting social, environmental, and operational efficiencies that would be impossible to achieve through alternative measures such as, composting and food donations. In Q3 of 2019, Sodexo Middle East launched a pilot phase of WWxLP in the UAE, which recorded 11,072.82 kilograms of total food wastage across 5 sites over six months.
Food wastage is a crucial global issue, with 1.3 billion tonnes of food lost or wasted every year and contributes to 8% of global Green House Gas emissions. Considering the gravity of the current climate, Sodexo is the first food services company to align its objective with the United Nations Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Sodexo’s has also lined up with the objectives of the UNGC backed Science BasedTargets initiative (SBTi) to reduce its carbon emissions by 34% within all its operational sites by the year 2025.