This week, as many of us across the US prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving
with an abundance of food (and hopefully, also the leftovers), food
waste
should be top of mind for us all.
After the past three years of highlighting solutions to home food waste through
its “Make Taste, Not Waste”
platform,
Hellmann’s is turning its attention to this week’s mother of all food-waste
holidays with “Between 2
Slices” — an OOH and print
ad campaign empowering people to fight food waste this Thanksgiving with
sandwiches. The campaign shows people the myriad ways to turn leftovers into
delicious, creative next-day meals with just two slices of bread and Hellmann's
mayonnaise.
According to recent ReFED
research,
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Two in three US families throw away leftovers after holiday gatherings.
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The 50 Liter Home: Lessons from a multi-industry global collaboration
Join us as leaders from Electrolux and Procter & Gamble share insights and progress to date on ‘The 50 Liter Home’ — a partnership aimed at reducing water consumption in the home, while also generating awareness that leads to better lifestyle choices for sustainable water use — Wednesday, Oct. 16, at SB'24 San Diego.
25 percent of US consumers think leftovers are boring and nearly half think
that leftovers never taste as good the next time around.
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Despite not being enthused about leftovers, nearly two-thirds would like
some help figuring out how to use their leftovers.
Created in collaboration with Cannes award-winning creative agency Illusion
CGI Studio, “Between 2 Slices” ads will be
featured across North America during key seasonal moments and feature expanded
isometric style illustrations to vividly depict memorable occasions where
leftovers are repurposed with Hellmann’s mayo. Each ‘occasion’ is depicted
between two slices of bread, showcasing how the art of crafting tasty sandwiches
creates new holiday memories.
"Our goal with Between 2 Slices is to inspire everyone to think differently
about their leftovers," said Kristen
Denega, Hellmann's
Marketing Lead, Canada. "We want to show everyone across North America that
leftovers, whether from Thanksgiving or holiday feasts, are not just about
reheating the same dishes but can be easily transformed into mouthwatering
sandwiches. By doing so, we can all play a part in reducing food waste and
minimizing our ecological footprint, especially during the holidays."
Print and digital out-of-home ads will run through Thanksgiving and the December
holiday season in key markets across the US (NYC and Orlando) and
Canada (Toronto and Vancouver).
The leftover-curious can visit Between 2 Slices | Hellmann's
US for leftover recipe
inspiration. Hellmann’s will also have influencer partners sharing creatives
ways to turn Thanksgiving leftovers into a variety of sandwich creations.
Consumer Goods Forum reports progress on food waste
And what better time for the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF)’s Food Waste
Coalition of
Action’s
first baseline
report
— which presents operational food surplus and waste aggregated data from 16 of
its retailer and manufacturer members. Based on 2021 data (submitted in
mid-2023) compiled by WRAP (Waste & Resources Action
Programme)
and commissioned by the Coalition, the report marks the next significant step in
the industry’s journey to effective reporting and greater transparency on
progress.
Marking a clear starting point for reporting progress in coming years, the
baseline is part of the Coalition’s ambition to halve food waste in their
business by 2030 — in alignment with Sustainable Development Goal 12.3
seeking to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns — by halving
per capita food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reducing food losses
along production and supply chains. At the launch of the Coalition in 2020,
members chose to focus on publicly reporting food waste and loss, aligned with
guidance from Champions 12.3. Public reporting
increases transparency and accountability, builds consumer trust and sets an
example for the wider industry.
“We will not tackle climate change if we don’t fix our broken food system — and
not least, food waste,” said WRAP CEO Harriet
Lamb. “Were it a country,
food waste would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China
and the USA. So, it’s incredibly important that the Food Waste Coalition of
Action has set a baseline for the businesses involved, and critical that these
major food companies work collaboratively towards its goals. Together, we can
halve the amount that goes to waste each year and make our food systems a more
equitable model that feeds people, not bins.”
The report gathers quantitative data — including the total tonnes of food waste
arising in both retailer and manufacturer cohorts, treatment and disposal routes
for food waste, and the amount of food redistributed to people or animal feed.
Total food waste across the cohort was 2.12 million tonnes, which was made up of
nearly 929,000 tonnes of retailer food
waste
and 1.19 million tonnes coming from the manufacturer side. This data forms the
baseline from which to track progress in future years.
Currently, around one-third of all the food produced globally isn’t eaten each
year — equating to 1.3 billion tonnes. Members of the CGF’s Food Waste Coalition
of Action are accelerating efforts to tackle this enormous environmental and
social problem — but know that more is needed at every level.
With its explicit CEO engagement, action-oriented commitments and passion for
accelerating sustainable change on a global level, the Coalition is a leader in
the effort to reduce food loss in supply chains worldwide by driving action on
key issues such as public reporting, full supply chain engagement, post-harvest
losses and regional challenges. Together, the Coalition and its members play a
powerful role in the effort to reduce waste, reducing stress on the environment,
benefitting the global economy and ensuring more food makes it to stores and
onto consumers’ tables in the process.
Understanding progress and being transparent is a critical way to reduce food
loss and waste. The Food Waste Coalition, led by 21 of the world’s major food
companies, is
already working to reduce waste by focusing on three priority actions —
including measurement and public reporting of food loss data, and collaboration
with key stakeholders. Key projects include:
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The 10x20x30 Initiative — which targets at least 10 of the world’s
largest food retailers and providers to follow the “Target-Measure-Act”
approach and engage 20 of their priority suppliers to do the same, thereby
halving their food loss and waste by 2030.
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Engagement on upstream losses — to address food loss at the post-harvest
level, by engaging with their suppliers on collaborative, innovative and
effective food loss prevention strategies.
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#TooGoodToWaste consumer engagement campaign — launched in September
2023, it supports food-industry members in raising awareness, educating and
helping consumers reduce household food waste.
The report also looks at qualitative data, presenting a summary of the action
that businesses are taking to set a food waste reduction target, work with their
suppliers, and support their customers to reduce food waste. All data has been
collected via the Global Food Loss and Waste Data Capture
Sheet,
built by WRAP UK and the World Resources Institute (WRI) and in support
of the Food Loss and Waste Standard.
“Our Coalition is working hard to create solutions to the food waste and loss
challenges in our own operations, and our supply chains both upstream and
downstream,” said Ken
Murphy, Group Chief Executive
at Tesco. “We welcome the findings of this report, as it represents our
commitment to transparency going forwards. We now want to see solid progression
along our pathway towards halving food waste, and with a baseline we can now
track our collective achievements. We encourage other companies to lean into the
challenges and join us on our journey.”
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Sustainable Brands Staff
Published Nov 22, 2023 8am EST / 5am PST / 1pm GMT / 2pm CET