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Restaurants, cafes reduce food waste
The food and beverage industry is now working toward making changes that benefit the environment, with restaurants reducing the amount of food waste and getting rewarded for their efforts as a result
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span>The food and beverage industry is now working toward making changes that benefit the environment, with restaurants reducing the amount of food waste and getting rewarded for their efforts as a result.
At Senayan City Mall in Central Jakarta, donut shop and café Krispy Kreme is adhering to the store’s tight policy on significantly reducing the amount of food waste.
“A maximum 1.5 percent in waste is allowed with our leftover donuts,” Christian, 28, assistant manager of the Krispy Kreme branch, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
If the store ran out of donuts, it could request a calculated amount of plain donuts from the main branch in BSD, South Tangerang, which then delivered garnished donuts to the local branch, Christian said.
Employees are given incentives for following through on the policy. “If we reach the food waste target across consecutive months, we’ll get a bonus,” he said.
Other restaurants, however, claim they are unable to cut down on waste.
Located at the same mall is Indonesian restaurant Rempah Kita, and the way it deals with food waste is commonly seen elsewhere.
“It really depends on the food. Some of it can be preserved in the freezer and the rest we’ll throw away,” Veni, 23, supervisor of Rempah Kita, told the Post.
Unlike Krispy Kreme, Rempah Kita offers a plethora of Indonesian food consisting of many easily spoiled ingredients such as gado-gado (mixed vegetable salad with peanut sauce).
“We’ll sometimes take the leftovers home but it’s really not allowed,” Veni added.
With waste overwhelming the city, the Jakarta Environment Agency launched on Thursday the “Jakarta Less Waste Initiative” movement at Jakarta Smart City Hive, Setiabudi, in South Jakarta. The movement calls on commercial buildings and restaurants to reduce food waste.
Applications for the initiative close on June 30.
Buildings and restaurants that apply for it will be provided with waste management counseling and verified and evaluated for their efforts, with the most improved client receiving a reward.
Hotel Shangri-La Jakarta in Central Jakarta is one of the commercial entities that applied for the program.
“All food waste is placed in a refrigerator designed to contain smells and prolong decomposition. The waste is then sorted to remove plastics, sent to a larvae farm to be consumed and turned into fertilizer,” Bintari Rarastiwi, corporate social responsibility and sustainability manager of Shangri-La Jakarta, told the Post on Friday.
Bintari said the management was happy about supporting positive government programs, increasing awareness for environmental issues and setting an example in working toward creating a cleaner environment.
McDonald’s Indonesia also joined the program.
“To reduce food waste, we have a system in which flags show how many orders are currently being cooked based on the amount of customers. The leftovers are then sent to an NGO […] [for processing],” McDonald’s Indonesia associate director of communications Sutji Lantyka said.
Jakarta Environment Agency acting head Andono Warih said on Thursday that the initiative was the carrot from a “carrot and stick” approach taken by the agency.
“Stakeholders of either businesses or restaurants that show the most improvement will be recognized and promoted by the agency as champions of successful food waste reduction,” Andono said.
He added that the initiative specifically targeted buildings and restaurants due to the estimation that 29 percent of waste came from commercial areas, 60 percent from residential areas and 10 percent from social facilities.
Changes to the overall percentage of waste will only begin to take place if about 6,000 restaurants and cafes in Jakarta improve their food waste management, according to data provided by the agency.
Proper waste management is required by law, as stated in Bylaw No. 3/2013 on waste management.
Participation in the initiative, however, is not mandatory, which allows commercial entities to completely ignore the invitation.
“With or without the initiative there’s a target to fulfill for reducing waste, as set by the central government. The advantage of this initiative is that there will be professional supervision for the applicants,” Jakarta Environment Agency solid waste management head Rahmawati said.
The agency reported that the Bantar Gebang landfill in Bekasi, West Java, will be unable to take in any more waste by 2021, with currently 7,500 tons of waste dumped at the site per day. (tru)
