PATA, the Pacific Asia Travel Association, published a report exploring the current situation of food waste in the APAC region by reviewing governmental, private sector, non-profit, and developmental initiatives towards tackling the issue. Winnow teamed up with PATA in May 2018 to help them raise awareness about food waste and drive positive change.
Titled Building an Understanding For Food Excess in Tourism – A Report, is the result of PATA’s BUFFET food waste reduction programme, which started in January 2018. The initiative aims to help hospitality businesses in the region prevent food waste, cut costs and reach the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
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. “The benefits of doing something about food waste are clear-cutting food waste will boost your triple bottom line and will have a massive effect down the supply chain. This report gives hope that we can prevent climate catastrophe if and when more tourism businesses can take actions such as implementing food waste prevention and reduction techniques.”
Every year, around one-third of all food produced is lost or wasted, costing us $1 trillion. Also, food that ends up in landfill emits methane, which is roughly 30 times more harmful than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. As the tourism industry is one of the largest economic sectors globally, generating 10.4% of world GDP, it is the responsibility of the industry to take action. Building an Understanding For Food Excess in Tourism – A Report looks at the potential for the hospitality and tourism industry to step up and do their part to reduce food waste.
We are delighted that our insights and learnings from working with over 1000 kitchens globally have contributed to PATA’s latest report. We look forward to working with PATA, raising awareness about food waste in the Asia Pacific region, and helping hotels achieve their reduction goals.
About PATA:
Founded in 1951, PATA is a not-for-profit membership association that acts as a catalyst for the responsible development of travel and tourism to, from and within the Asia Pacific region. The Association provides aligned advocacy, insightful research and innovative events to its more than 800 member organisations, including 95 government, state and city tourism bodies, 20 international airlines and airports, 102 hospitality organisations and 70 educational institutions, as well as over a hundred young tourism professional (YTP) members across the world. Visit www.PATA.org.
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