Greenpeace's new "Sea of Distress" report compares food service companies on "whether they are helping or harming the oceans and workers," and tips a big ol' hat to Clean Water Action's ReThink Disposable program as a way for businesses to take action, save money and help the environment at the same time.
The report recommends that food service businesses consult with programs like ReThink Disposable to reduce their plastic footprint and save money. You can read the whole thing here.
"Food service companies aren't household names," the report says. But they "buy, transport, cook, and serve the food you get at well-known places like Disney World, Burger King, Yosemite National Park, and the Super Bowl."
That means things like sourcing responsible seafood and working to phase out single-use plastic in their operations have a huge impact.
The report cites our ReThink Disposable work with pharmaceutical company Genentech, trialling the program in one of its nine cafes at its South San Francisco campus:
The company reduced more than one million pieces of disposable foodservice packaging items, representing 44 different types of packaging. After accounting for associated costs, the cafe projects annual savings of more than $12,000—not including the additional savings from reduced hauling services.
It also cites our work at the University of San Francisco:
The University of San Francisco’s hub of campus dining, Market Café, piloted Rethink Disposable’s BMPs for source reduction.83 Market Café reduced more than 2.6 million pieces of disposable foodservice packaging items, representing 10 different types of packaging. After folding in the one-time setup cost of $5,241 and the annual ongoing cost of $27,297 to sustain the new cafe durables operation, the cafe would see an annual savings of more than $157,000 from avoided foodware costs and the revenue generated from implementing a $0.25 charge on disposable containers to incentivize students to dine in on reusable foodware.
Thanks, Greenpeace. This kind of recognition goes a long way to getting our audited solution to plastic pollution in front of some of the world's biggest food service companies. Sodexo alone has a market capitalization of $15 billion, which means they could save far more than the average small business, which still saves $4,000 a year, with our program!
Here's Greenpeace's ranking of food service companies by ocean friendliness:
Are you a multi-billion dollar company looking to save thousands of dollars with an audited solution to single-use disposable waste? Get in touch with program manager Samantha Sommer.
