Cork-based hotel group Trigon Hotels has reduced the amount of food waste at The Metropole Hotel and Cork International Hotel by 12.5% – or four tonnes – as a result of a Food Charter launched by the group last year.
Food waste is a significant contributor to climate change and the team at the hotel group have embraced new ways of doing things so they can work towards a sustainable food system.
The Trigon Hotels Food Charter outlines 10 key commitments to help achieve their goal of becoming a greener hospitality partner.
Group Executive Chef at Trigon Hotels, Alex Petit said: “I am very proud of the team for achieving such wonderful results in a year. We are fully committed to minimising the impact our hotels have on the environment and reducing food waste. The Food Charter aims to reduce food waste by 20% at the two hotels so we’re delighted to have surpassed the halfway mark in just a year. We have had full buy-in from the team to make the project a success and I wish to express my gratitude to them. I look forward to seeing what else we can achieve together on this journey.”
Mr Petit is passionate about sustainability and is part of the hotel group’s sustainability team who constantly look at how they can help deliver a more sustainable food system.
He is encouraging everyone to try to reduce food waste in their home. His top five tips to help reduce food waste in the household are:
- Make a shopping list
Before you go shopping, write out a list of the foods and store cupboard ingredients that need to be replaced. Think about what you are going to cook for the week and write down the ingredients. Stick to what you need. It’s easy to go off track but that can easily lead to buying foods you just don’t need or will use.
- Make sure to cook the right amount for the amount of people eating
It’s easy to cook too much food. In a lot of cases the food isn’t used afterwards and ultimately leads to waste. Think about the portion sizes and cook the amount that’s needed for the number of people.
- Support local suppliers where possible
Ireland has some wonderful local food producers. They produce top class foods using quality ingredients. Where you can, support them. By doing so you tend to buy only what you need or the product they offer.
- If cooking for a family do some batch cooking and freeze portions
Batch cooking is a great way to reduce food waste. It’s easy to portion out food and have it ready for when you need it. You can of course freeze extra portions if you have cooked too much for a particular meal. There’s no need to let easily frozen foods go to waste. Batch cooking also alleviates cooking everyday during the week.
- Look at ways of reusing leftovers
Have a look at what’s leftover and see what else can be done with it. Leftovers can be very useful in making other dishes. Vegetables can easily be made into a delicious soup or broth.
A complete list of the 10 commitments in Trigon’s Food Charter:
- Reduce food waste by 20% or 0.12 litres per customer.
- Support local food suppliers to strengthen the community and reduce carbon footprint.
- Prioritise seasonality as a primary concern in our culinary endeavours.
- Engage with local charity partners to give back to the community.
- Reduce non-organic landfill waste by 15%.
- Eliminate single-use plastic to minimise environmental impact.
- Decrease the use of processed foods in our culinary offerings.
- Introduce no-waste dishes to minimise overall environmental impact.
- Increase the utilisation of sustainable sources of protein.
- Reduce energy consumption in our kitchens by 20%.