Wellcome Collection, a London venue and event space, has announced its partnership with Waste Knot, an organisation which reduces food waste in the hospitality industry.
The partnership will introduce boxes of surplus fruit and vegetables to the kitchen. The produce will be delivered in recycled banana boxes, which adds to the circular notion of reusing and recycling.
The fruit and vegetables provided by Waste Knot, which end up in landfills due to not meeting cosmetic standards, will be used to create plant-forward event menus that showcase seasonal British produce.
Wellcome Collection will also work with Restaurant Associates to monitor and measure the interunit packaging for all deliveries in an effort to reduce unnecessary packaging.
As a result, the way fresh fruit and vegetables are delivered has changed. It now exchanges plastic for reusable cardboard carriers, which the company colle ct on the next delivery.
Wellcome Collection has previously reduced waste in 2017. It has used Winnow, an electronic measuring system which weighs and records all discarded food products. This system has reduced food waste by 50%.
Wellcome Collection has been shortlisted for this year’s London Venue Awards, in the category of Best Sustainability or CSR Initiative.
Daniel Caleb, event spaces manager at Wellcome Collection, said: “We are constantly striving to reduce our environmental impact and this latest initiative is particularly exciting. Apart from the size and shape often being a little unusual, the fruit and vegetables supplied by Waste Knot are perfectly edible and are equally as delicious and nutritious as its ‘perfect’ counterpart.
“By proving that we can create the same delicious dishes using imperfect produce, hopefully we can encourage some of our delegates and visitors to pick up their own ‘wonky’ fruit and veg next time they’re at the supermarket and help tackle the widespread issue of excessive food waste. We are delighted to be able to launch the partnership at the NHS Climate Summit which takes place on 3 October.”
