Reducing food loss and waste in business operations can seem like a daunting task. It can be challenging to navigate where to begin, which stakeholders to involve, and how to make a real impact. The U.S. Food Waste Pact has found that one of the most effective food waste reduction strategies for businesses across the supply chain is to involve staff at all levels of an organization. To jumpstart food waste reduction efforts in any food business, the U.S. Food Waste Pact—in partnership with the Pacific Coast Food Waste Commitment (PCFWC) and TripleWin Advisory—has published a portfolio of employee engagement resources, which includes a toolkit that any business can use to successfully run an employee engagement food waste reduction pilot.
This employee engagement work began in 2022, when the PCFWC ran a first-of-its-kind intervention pilot project with signatory Bob’s Red Mill, which engaged employees in a food waste reduction competition at one of the company’s manufacturing plants. Staff were educated about food waste before being asked to submit ideas for reducing it in the plant. One employee idea—which implemented a process to regularly tighten screws on one of the manufacturing lines—was chosen to test over a five-week period. At the end of five weeks, food waste had been reduced by over 70%. Inspired by these results, Land O’Lakes and signatory Fresh Del Monte piloted their own employee engagement pilots, with both projects yielding similar results.
The repeated success of this intervention project led to the development of open-source resources that food businesses across all sectors—from farm to manufacturing to foodservice to retail—can use to start or bolster their food waste reduction efforts. The Employee Engagement Toolkit hosts a portfolio of resources designed to empower teams with actionable strategies and insights. Within the toolkit, users will find step-by-step guides to implementing and running a successful pilot, sector-specific video resources to educate staff about food loss and waste, printable and editable assets to be used in facilities, and more. This comprehensive resource provides everything a business would need to successfully run an employee engagement intervention project.
Additionally included are video testimonials from two businesses who have piloted this kind of project. In these shorts, employees from Bob’s Red Mill and Fresh Del Monte discuss the experience of participating in these pilots, the decisions they made along the way, and how the positive impact is building a culture of sustainability in their operations. Included in their testimonials are best practices and encouragement for businesses of all kinds to engage their staff in order to make real progress on food waste reduction. Finally, a report about employee engagement for the retail sector is included, detailing five proven strategies as well as retailer testimonials.
These resources aim to make food waste reduction easy and fun for businesses across the food system. In the coming months, additional resources will be added, including resources from the first foodservice and nationally scaled pilot of this type.
If you or your organization have any questions about these resources, please reach out using the contact form here.