Food waste in the United States amounts to approximately $165 billion annually. While there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to this problem, every industry should consider its role in waste generation and explore ways to increase sustainability.
For that reason, we’re going to discuss one of the industries that contributes to the environmental, economic, and social consequences of food waste: large-scale food events.
Events such as catering functions, festivals, corporate events, and public gatherings typically produce large amounts of waste due to inefficiencies, overproduction, and poor waste management. That said, there are effective ways to manage food waste for food events—we just must know how to navigate them.
Key Takeaways
- One of the ways to reduce event food waste is to create a more sustainable menu. This includes designing a menu based on previous event consumption data, considering the type and duration of the event, and choosing ingredients based on seasonal availability.
- Tracking food consumption and waste in real-time helps event planners adjust service immediately. IoT devices provide real-time insights into portion sizes and spoilage rates, helping caterers make informed decisions about their current event and better plan for future events.
- To reduce the impact of catering food waste, event organizers should collaborate with local food banks, shelters, and charitable organizations, therefore ensuring surplus food is redirected to those in need.
- Food waste that cannot be donated should be carefully managed to avoid sending it to landfills. By partnering with a waste management company, you can explore various approaches, such as composting or turning food waste into animal feed.
Planning Stage: Effective Food Waste Prevention Strategies
Did you know there are steps you can take to prevent food waste before the event even begins?
Here are some valuable strategies you can implement during the event planning stage:
Accurate Guest Count Estimations
One of the common causes of food waste at events is overestimating how many guests are going to attend. You can get an accurate head count by encouraging guests to RSVP as close as possible to the event. This prevents event organizers from purchasing and preparing more food than can be consumed.
Tailored Menu Planning
Event planners can also design their menus to encourage more sustainable options. This includes creating menus based on previous event consumption data and considering the type and duration of the event. You can also choose ingredients based on seasonal availability and factor in guest preferences to reduce event food waste.
Pre-Event Communication with Vendors and Caterers
By setting clear sustainability goals, everyone involved can collaborate to reduce food waste before the event even begins. This enables vendors and caterers to plan accordingly, adjusting portion sizes to reduce overproduction and minimize catering food waste.
Portion Control Design
Portion sizes will vary depending on the type of event you’re hosting. For instance, guests tend to eat more at dinner parties compared to events held during cocktail hour. To prevent plate waste, some event planners opt for buffets to encourage guests only to serve what they will consume. While buffets typically generate food waste due to overproduction, surplus meals may be eligible for donation, making it a practical solution. That said, organizers must consider the unique requirements of their event, considering previous event consumption to guide their decisions.
Waste Reduction Contracts
While prevention is the top priority, there will always be some degree of food waste after large-scale events. By creating partnerships before events are held, you can better manage food waste, helping you achieve sustainability goals and reduce your environmental footprint. Waste management companies like Shapiro will work with you to create a tailored solution in order to streamline the collection, transportation, and management of event food waste.
Sustainable Sourcing: Reducing Food Waste through Ingredient Choice
How can large-scale food events prioritize sustainable sourcing?
Keep reading to learn the importance of local and seasonal sourcing, using surplus and “ugly” ingredients, and utilizing donation-ready foods.
Local and Seasonal Sourcing
There are various benefits to using locally grown and seasonal foods. To start, locally sourced ingredients are fresher, full of flavor, and contain more nutrients. Even more, since these ingredients do not need to travel far to reach their destination, they help reduce their carbon footprint and minimize spoilage due to poor storage, handling, and transportation practices.
Surplus Ingredients
One of the ways to fight food waste in the catering industry is to prioritize the use of surplus or “ugly” produce in creative ways. Rather than discarding imperfect produce, caterers can use techniques such as pureeing, shredding, and spiralizing to make them more visually appealing. They can also embrace using ugly food by highlighting it on their menus as part of their sustainability efforts.
As we’ll discuss in more detail below, there are also various options for surplus food, such as donations and composting.
Donation-Ready Foods
Event planners can source ingredients with longer shelf lives, such as dried grains or non-perishable food items, so they can easily be donated if they’re not used. By choosing ingredients that can be stored longer and safely donated, caterers can help reduce waste, fight food insecurity, and enhance the event’s brand image.
Real-Time Waste Management During the Event
Now that we know how to effectively prepare for events, let’s explore what steps can be taken during the event to reduce and manage waste.
Live Data Tracking
Tracking food consumption and waste in real-time helps event planners adjust service immediately. While businesses can use manual tracking methods, IoT devices are much more accurate, as they provide real-time insights into portion sizes and spoilage rates. Not only does this help caterers make informed decisions about their current event, but it also helps them plan for future events.
Advanced food waste management using IoT also enables businesses to track the temperature, humidity, expiration dates, and stock levels of their products, therefore reducing spoilage.
Communication with Guests
Reducing food waste at events requires participation from everyone involved, including guests. Event organizers can promote mindful consumption in various ways, such as using signs and announcements to encourage guests to take smaller portions, return for seconds, or save food they don’t finish.
Real-Time Composting Solutions
Food waste and composting are a powerful duo, as composting diverts waste from landfills and creates a nutrient-rich soil amendment that can be used for future events or various agricultural applications. To facilitate composting, event organizers can create composting stations that make it easy to collect food scraps while also showcasing their commitment to sustainability.
Leftover Management and Donation
When the event is done, your waste management plan will kick into action. While there are various strategies to consider, donating surplus food and ingredients should be your number one priority, as it helps bridge the gap between food waste and hunger. That said, a successful waste management plan should also consider how to manage inevitable food waste.
To increase donation efforts and divert food from landfills, consider the following tips:
- Partner with Local Food Banks: Partnerships are the key to successful donation efforts. By collaborating with local food banks, shelters, and charitable organizations, event planners and caterers can ensure surplus food is redirected to those in need. By creating a good plan, you can also reduce spoilage in perishable food items.
- Guidelines for Donations: With food insecurity being a huge concern, there are laws regulating food donations to encourage participation. The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act is a great example of this, as it ensures businesses that donate in good faith are protected from legal liability.
- Preparedness for Leftovers: An important part of donation efforts is being prepared to store and transport food items properly to maintain their quality. This includes using food-safe containers, having refrigeration options, and using labeling systems to keep leftover food fresh and organized.
- Create a waste management strategy: Food waste that cannot be donated should be carefully managed to avoid sending it to landfills. By partnering with a waste management company, you can explore various approaches, such as composting or turning food waste into animal feed.
Why Bother with Food Waste Management when Planning an Event?
So why is it important to reduce event food waste?
There are various benefits to using effective food waste management before, during, and after events, including:
- Environmental Impact: Food waste is notorious for damaging the environment, contributing to issues such as increased pollution, resource depletion, and food releasing methane in landfills. By reducing food waste, event organizers can address these concerns, helping to fight climate change and create a healthier environment.
- Financial Benefits: Reducing food waste at festivals and other large-scale events offers huge cost savings for event planners and business owners. This is directly connected to the reduction of overordering, overproduction, and disposal costs, while also enabling the reuse or repurposing of leftovers.
- Social Responsibility: Sustainability has gained lots of traction in recent years, especially in the context of event planning. For that reason, businesses that divert wasted food from landfills and prioritize waste reduction can improve their brand image and attract environmentally conscious consumers and attendees.
- Compliance and Legal Obligations: There are various state- and city-wide laws that regulate food waste and donations. For instance, the NYS Food Donation and Food Scraps Recycling law requires businesses and institutions that generate an annual average of two tons of wasted food per week or more to donate excess edible food and recycle all remaining food scraps if they are within 25 miles of an organic’s recycler. Depending on your location, you may be required to incorporate waste management into your event. We recommend checking your local laws to stay compliant.
Best Practices for Different Event Types
To reduce food waste at events, each type of event must create a tailored strategy to address its unique challenges.
Keep reading to explore best practices for festivals, corporate events, weddings, and public events.
Festivals
Festival organizers face multiple challenges, such as handling large crowds and coordinating with multiple food vendors. That said, there are ways to reduce food waste at festivals and enhance sustainability, such as implementing central composting stations, using eco-friendly packaging, and encouraging portion control. Communication is key during festivals, as every vendor should be aware of waste reduction expectations to ensure alignment.
Corporate Events
At corporate events, careful menu planning should be a top priority. Event organizers can predict consumption habits based on previous event data while also considering the length of the event to improve portion control and reduce plate waste. To avoid overordering, it’s also critical to gather accurate head counts through advanced RSVP systems, therefore reducing the likelihood of leftovers.
Post-event food donation partnerships are also important at corporate events, as they help businesses give back to their community and achieve sustainability goals.
Weddings
To reduce catering food waste at weddings, there are various approaches you can take. The first option is to have plated dinners with appropriate portion sizes; this approach, however, requires an accurate headcount to minimize surplus plate waste. Buffets are also a popular choice at weddings. To avoid overproduction, caterers can use IoT devices to track food consumption and waste in real-time, enabling them to make adjustments during the event.
Similar to other types of events, donating surplus meals and ingredients is a great way to reduce the environmental impact of food waste at weddings.
Public Events
Public festivals and city-wide events can reduce food waste through large-scale initiatives like composting zones and vendor waste management. As mentioned above, event organizers can also get attendees involved by making announcements and using signs to encourage them to separate their food waste from other types of waste to facilitate composting efforts.
The Bottom Line
To reduce food waste at events, businesses should carefully plan their menu, donate surplus meals and ingredients, and implement a comprehensive waste management strategy.
At Shapiro, we’re dedicated to minimizing the environmental, economic, and social consequences of food waste. As an experienced food waste management company, we’ll help you explore the different ways to manage food waste for food events, creating a tailored solution that works for you.
Contact us today to learn more about our services.
Baily Ramsey, an accomplished marketing specialist, brings a unique blend of anthropological insight and marketing finesse to the digital landscape. Specializing in educational content creation, she creates content for various industries, with a particular interest in environmental initiatives.
