Food waste is an issue that shows no signs of letting up. For companies within the food industry, the proper engagement of employees is key to making meaningful change. Sam Pearl, site director at Cranswick Convenience Foods, Milton Keynes, explains how.
Food waste is a well-documented problem. In the UK alone, millions of tonnes of perfectly edible food ends up in landfill every year, and while campaigns and news headlines often point the finger at the consumer, the food industry itself has a lot of work to do in this area.
At Cranswick, minimising food waste is a central pillar of our Second Nature sustainability strategy.
Last year we became a member of Friends of Champions 12.3, a group of companies and organisations committed to achieving target 12.3 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which aims to halve per capita global food waste by 2030. We’ve pledged to become a zero food waste business by this deadline – and we’re on track to achieve this ahead of schedule.
But enacting meaningful change within a wide-reaching company of some 10,000 employees is no mean feat – indeed, scale is one of the most commonly-cited challenges for organisations looking to improve their environmental credentials. Of course, we’re waste mapping and investing in the right technology, but the greatest factor in our success so far is without a doubt employee engagement. Or to give it a more personable name: people power.
People, not numbers
We’re firm believers that people connect with people, not targets, so our first port of call was asking our workforce what they thought about the issue at hand. Giving our employees a meaningful voice through our annual employee survey and via regular meetings with directors keeps our workforce engaged and feeling valued – plus higher level executives can always learn an important thing or two from those in the field.
‘Zero hunger’ was cited as one of the most important issues to our employees, and ‘responsible consumption’ was seen as an area where the business could have the greatest impact, with 73% of employees voting for food waste as their number one issue to tackle. These findings assured us that our employees were at least interested in making a change, so it was up to us to help facilitate that. And we started with our Waste Warriors programme.
The programme is made up of volunteers from across the business – who we call Changemakers – who believe in the vision of Second Nature and are committed to rolling out and testing new ideas and initiatives. One of the biggest challenges we faced was helping employees see how our targets translated into day-to-day actions, but our Changemakers are able to educate at ground level, breaking down targets into expected behaviours by department, function and job role. Our employees want to make a difference, so it’s important that they can see the impact of their efforts.
The face of food waste
Of course, food waste is a problem that exists outside of our industry and it’s one that goes hand-in-hand with the very serious issue of food poverty. Again, people connect with people – not targets – and so assimilating our waste reduction goals with positive social causes has helped to further reinforce the importance of the task at hand.
Our sites work with local food banks and charities to ensure any unavoidable food waste we produce is put to the best possible use. At our Milton Keynes location – our flagship Champions 12.3 site – 100% of surplus product is redistributed to local community groups in need via a partnership with online redistribution platform Plan Zheroes. This helps to give a human face to our efforts, and waste reduction becomes about people helping people, not simply workers tackling targets.
And we’ve tried to make our endeavours enjoyable throughout the company, too. Earlier this year we enlisted the help of Elysia who are a catering company with a sustainable focus. They make artisan food with local and in season surplus produce and they provided a lunch for our Waste Warriors team made solely out of surplus demonstrating how ingredients usually destined for the bin can be used in imaginative and tasty ways. This was a simple afternoon activity, but it could have a big impact in the way our employees think about food overall – change always comes from understanding.
Everything we do is communicated to our employees via notice boards, TV screens and canteen table talkers, and we host regular interactive roadshows and celebrations around the issue of food waste. For us, reducing food waste isn’t a CSR ‘bolt on’ but rather a part of company culture embedded in the everyday lives of our colleagues.
All of our efforts – driven by our enthusiastic and inspired employees – are paying off. Last year alone we reduced edible food waste by 26% and donated more than 9,545 meals to Plan Zheroes. We’re now over 50% there in achieving our 2030 Champions 12.3 target well ahead of schedule. But these numbers, while important, won’t ever be the sole driving force for change. It’s people power that really makes things happen.