Costa Cruises has just unveiled they are the first cruise line to launch a fleetwide programme, halving food waste onboard cruise ships.
4GOODFOOD will mean that by 2020, the 50% reduction in food waste will match the equivalent of saving 1,189 metric tonnes of CO2 or the emissions of 231 motor vehicles in a year.
The starting point for the project was recognizing the value of food and the figures that reveal 54 million meals a year are prepared on board the Costa fleet, leading to Costa remodeling its food service processes using an integrated approach based on sustainability.
Costa has teamed up with the food bank charity Fondazione Banco Alimentare to launch a surplus food donation scheme where they retrieve and donate “ready to eat” meals prepared on board but not served in the ship’s restaurants.
Thousands of guests have expressed concern over the years for the sheer amount of food wasted onboard cruises but, within the space of just six months in 2017, approximately 16,000 portions of food were distributed from Costa via local associations to people in need.
Do you admire Costa’s effort to halve food waste and send portions to those in need? Have your say in our poll…
President of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Peter Bakker, stated: “Today, one-third of all the food that we produce is never eaten. As almost 800 million people suffer from malnourishment and food insecurity across the globe, this is a situation which simply cannot continue.”
Enrico Giovannini, Spokesperson for the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development (ASviS), added: “Companies like Costa Cruises, which interact with millions of people every year, can use these awareness-raising initiatives to accelerate the cultural change required to improve lifestyles and provide the impetus to make the future more sustainable.”
The pilot project was tested on the flagship Costa Diadema in 2016 and 4GOODFOOD is now being implemented fleet-wide after the test programme yielded impressive results.
What do you think of Costa’s effort? Do you think it’s inspiring or uneccessary? What other cruise lines should do things like this? Leave us your comments below…
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