EarthCheck and Winnow team up to benchmark climate impact of food waste reduction using Artificial Intelligence

Sustainability pioneers EarthCheck and clean-tech scale up Winnow today announce a forward-thinking partnership which aims to put food waste at the forefront of the climate conversation for hoteliers and the broader hospitality industry.

⅓ of all food being wasted is from farm to fork and if food waste was a country it would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gas after China and the USA. Food waste is a global problem which needs to be addressed urgently. The partnership seeks to create a quantified, accelerated approach to eliminating avoidable food waste.

•     From a climate change perspective. Food waste contributes around 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions (source: FAO)
•     Food waste costs the global economy around $1trn, and Winnow estimates that around $100bn is lost in the hospitality sector every year
•     Winnow’s Artificial Intelligence enabled technology helps hospitality businesses cut food waste in half while food cost savings

With over 30 years’ experience, EarthCheck is the world leading benchmarking, certification and advisory group for travel and tourism. Incorporating advances in both scientific benchmarking, science-based targets and sustainability performance, EarthCheck help guide and accelerate clients to achieve net zero targets.

Winnow is a clean tech scale up helping chefs combat food waste with analytics. Winnow’s flagship AI product, Winnow Vision, takes photos of wasted food as it's thrown away and, using the images, the machine trains itself to recognise what has been thrown in the bin. Computer Vision, the technology that enables Winnow Vision, is similar to that used in autonomous vehicles.

Trusted by the likes of IKEA, IHG, Hilton and Accor Hotels, teams receive daily reports which pinpoint wastage and highlight where operational improvements can be made. Typically, kitchens can expect to cut food waste in half while driving food cost reductions of between 2%-8%.

The hospitality industry is increasingly moving towards climate action. Hilton, McDonald’s, IKEA, IHG, Meliá and others from the space have set public science based targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions^[1]. The partnership will provide a strategic framework to reduce food waste with Winnow’s innovative technology, and a robust certification process to validate the reductions via EarthCheck’s benchmarking and consulting services.

Marc Zornes, Winnow CEO and co-founder says “We are delighted to announce the partnership with EarthCheck who carry real credibility in the climate benchmarking space. Food waste is both an opportunity economically and environmentally for the hospitality sector, and as businesses gear up for reopening post-pandemic, we believe that food waste should be a top priority.”

EarthCheck CEO Stewart Moore says, “Cutting food waste has become a global priority and EarthCheck recognise that Winnow sits at the forefront of intelligent waste management. This partnership is timely and speaks directly to the need for the entire tourism and hospitality sector to embrace regenerative and science-based waste management practices”.  

^[1] Targets are considered ‘science-based’ if they are in line with what the latest climate science deems necessary to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement – limiting global warming to well-below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C.