£1m worth of food waste saved thanks to smart metering

23 March 2015 by
£1m worth of food waste saved thanks to smart metering

More than £1m worth of food waste has been saved thanks to smart metering, visitors to Waste-Works have heard.

Speaking at the waste resource event being held at ExCel this week, Winnow co-founder Marc Zornes said the firm's system had saved the equivalent of 680,000 meals and 3,400 tonnes of CO2 since its launch.

WRAP estimated that food waste could hit £3b a year by 2016 unless steps were taken to address the issue.

Zornes said that by measuring the wastage, savings were simple to realise.

He added: "For too long chefs have had to rely on outdated ways of recording waste such as pen and paper. Globally one third of all food is wasted, we are confident that by working with our partners we can make a significant reduction in food waste, helping the hospitality sector dramatically reduce costs while at the same time doing what's right for the planet."

Zornes said that data from over 100 sites using Winnow smart metering suggested the technology had now saved more than £1m in costs. The data found that the most frequently binned items were vegetables, salad, chicken, eggs and rice.

In London Winnow has worked alongside the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) on the FoodSave project, which helps restaurants in the city reduce the amount of food they waste.

The Imperial on King's Road participated in FoodSave, using the Winnow System, and reduced food waste by over 30%, the equivalent of £10,000 over a year.

SRA managing director Mark Linehan said: "Winnow's technology has played a huge part in enabling us to help London restaurants save almost half a million pounds over the past 18 months. The detailed data the system delivers really helps to open the eyes and focus the minds of chefs to how they think about and deal with food waste."

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