Catering firm Vacherin has diverted 3,200 kg of fruit and veg from landfill. The cosmetically rejected produce used in its I’mPerfect range could double this year, according to the company’s 2015/16 sustainability report.
The approach is fairly simple: the company’s chefs receive emails detailing the weekly availability of a range of produce that hasn’t passed the cosmetic standards of retailers but is “perfectly good to eat” and up to 20% cheaper.
Setting up the initiative was rather more complicated: as Footprint reported in January, finding the right supplier took two years.
In Europe, 46% of fruit and veg is wasted, with a third of the losses occurring in the field, Vacherin noted.
The company’s CSR update also highlighted how 1.5 tonnes of coffee grounds and 10,000 litres of rapeseed oil are now being converting to biofuel. The firm’s “Red Meat Free Monday’s” have also reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 72 tonnes.
“We want to decouple economic growth from environmental exhaustion, continuing to serve the foods we all love in a responsible manner,” the owners noted.
