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Futouris project significantly reduces food waste in hotels
Tatjana PetersAround 400 kilograms less food waste per week and up to 26,500 euros in reduced operating costs per season and hotel: these are the final results of the "Avoiding food waste" project. In the project, the member companies of the sustainability initiative Futouris e.V., in collaboration with United Against Waste e.V., analyzed and significantly reduced food waste in partner hotels in Rhodes, Calabria and Turkey
Avoid food waste
It is estimated that around a third of all food is thrown away every year. In Germany alone, hotels produce 200,000 tons of food waste every year. Futouris' aim with the "Avoid food waste" project was to take action against this waste at selected vacation destinations in the Mediterranean region.
A team spent 55 weeks in a total of three countries, seven hotels and eleven restaurants. Participants were partner hotels of Futouris members DER Touristik, FTI Group, ÖGER TOURS, Thomas Cook and TUI. First of all, all the food waste produced in the hotels was collected in the kitchen and sorted into waste from the warehouse, production waste, overproduction and plate returns. A waste analysis tool was used to systematically measure the quantities of waste and identify potential savings in the respective areas on the basis of the measurement results. In a second phase, the hotel employees, from the hotel manager to the head chef, developed waste prevention measures together with United Against Waste and Futouris and implemented them immediately. The biggest challenge here was the all-inclusive concept used in all participating hotels, which leads to above-average plate returns.
Joint project saves food waste and reduces operating costs
The results of the project are impressive: the measures implemented in the participating hotels - such as smaller containers or live cooking stations - have significantly reduced food waste. At its peak, one hotel was able to reduce food waste at lunch by 61.5 kilograms, which corresponds to a saving of 40 percent. Another participating hotel was able to reduce waste at dinner by 106 kilograms per week. This corresponds to a saving of 21 percent.
"With their commitment, the hotels are not only protecting the environment. They also save considerable operating costs because less food waste means reduced expenditure," explains Futouris CEO Prof. Dr. Harald Zeiss. In concrete terms, a hotel saves money of up to 26,500 euros per season due to reduced product and disposal costs.
For the broad implementation phase in the coming year, the Futouris member companies are planning to implement the topic of "sustainable food offerings on vacation" with a special focus on reducing food waste in other hotels and to anchor it in the industry on a large scale.
