PATA, the Pacific Asia Travel Association, launched a campaign to help hotels in the region prevent food waste, cut costs and reach the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. We are thrilled to announce that we have joined forces with PATA to raise awareness about food waste and drive positive change.
Titled BUFFET (Building an Understanding For Food Excess in Tourism), PATA’s toolkit provides managers and chefs in hospitality more information and resources about reducing food waste. The association has identified food waste as a key concern for hotels’ operation and a major contributor to climate change.
According to PATA’s CEO Dr Mario Hardy, food waste reduction is the most effective way for operators to cut cost while contributing to the environment by reducing their footprint. In an increasingly competitive scenario, food waste is not an opportunity that operator can afford to ignore. “With significant growth expected in the industry and especially the Asia Pacific region in the near future, greater waste can be expected. Our aim is to curb that waste by bringing the tourism and hospitality sectors together”.
Produced in collaboration with project partner Scholars of Sustenance and knowledge partner Futouris, the online resource addresses multiple key issues such as choosing the right tool to manage waste, techniques to help chefs avoid cooking too much food, innovative approaches to making use of surplus cooked ingredients, and how to engage staff in food waste strategies.
PATA is a forward-thinking organization. They look at the circular economy principle when advising hotels on how to reduce food waste. In other words, their toolkit looks at tackling the issue from its source. This means, that the most efficient thing to do when reducing food waste is to reduce the amount produced in the first place.
Over the next months the Association will be working with local hotels to develop case studies, implement good practices and monitor improvements. Also, PATA recently launched the BUFFET for Youth challenge which aims to get the next generation of hospitality professionals ready to do more on sustainability and food waste. We look forward to working with PATA, raising awareness about food waste in the Asia Pacific region, and helping hotels achieve their reduction goals.
Photo credit: Mohammad Saifullah via Unsplash
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