Nine out of ten employees negatively impacted by food waste

Food waste app Too Good To Go has disclosed the results of a recent survey conducted on workers and consumer attitudes to food waste in takeaway and food-to-go situations. It has revealed that

Nine out of ten employees in food-to-go businesses experience negative emotions over food wasted in their workplaces on a daily basis, according to a new survey by food waste app Too Good To Go.

The survey, the results of which were revealed today (9 September), showed that emotions such as frustration, guilt, sadness and anger were all identified as being felt by foodservice employees when food is wasted. Disappointment was felt the most with half (49 per cent) of all employees surveyed admitting to experiencing it.

The survey also reveals that a lack of training and food waste prevention guidelines could be contributing to continued food waste, with less than half of food-to-go businesses having operations guidelines in place to reduce food waste.

On top of this, training is limited, with less than half of employees surveyed (45 per cent) stated that they receive sustainability awareness or employee sessions on limiting the amount of food being thrown away.

When asked about the reasons for food waste in their business, one third of respondents (36 per cent) stated that poor stock management was to blame. However, the survey also found that almost two thirds of businesses (60 per cent) do not have a stock management process in place to reduce food waste, while 48 per cent of employees surveyed blamed unpredictable fluctuations in customer footfall for the large amounts of waste.

The reported lack of training and guidelines will be a cause of concern for many, especially considering the hospitality sector’s support of the Waste and Resources Action Programme’s (WRAP) Food Waste Reduction Roadmap, which commits signatories to reduce food waste in their own operations.

On the report’s findings, Jamie Crummie, co-founder of Too Good To Go, said: “It is clear that employees in the food-to-go sector are becoming more aware of the issue of food waste in their business – more than eight in 10 employees in the sector are aware of how much food their business wastes on a daily basis. And the negative impact this is having on employee wellbeing is a cause for concern.

“There also remains a stark knowledge gap in the impact of food waste. Over a third of employees are still not aware of the environmental impact of throwing away food. With sustainability rising up the agenda for employees and consumers, it is vital for food-to-go businesses to step up and ensure that they’re actively playing a role to reduce food waste. ”

While the main source of food waste in the UK is from households, generating 6.6 million tonnes of food waste per year, restaurant and on-the-go food waste remains significant, generating 1.1 million tonnes of waste a year.

While overall food waste levels have fallen in the past three years by seven per cent, levels of food waste generated by the hospitality sector has actually increased by eight per cent.

A number of campaigns have been launched over the past few years in an attempt to tackle the large amounts of food waste generated in the hospitality sector, including WRAP’s Guardians of Grub campaign and Hubbub’s partnership with Winnow targeting ‘plate waste’ in restaurants.