Today is World Food Day. A third of the planet’s food production goes to waste each year. That is 1.3 billion tons equivalent to the total amount produced in the Sub-Saharan Africa. Food and Agriculture Organisation statistics show that around 850 million people are undernourished and one in seven people worldwide go to bed hungry each night. Agriculture production must increase by 60% to meet global food demand by 2050. 15% of the world’s population is going hungry, but only 12% of the world’s food waste is being recycled.
Seven hotels in Bangkok managed by Accor jointly launched “Food for Thought” in May 2012. This environmental and social initiative to reduce food wastage while providing nutritious meals to those in need provides usable food from banquets, bakeries and buffets to the Fatima Centre of the Good Shepherd Sisters, a non-profit organisation that provides opportunities for at-risk women and girls. “Food for Thought” was founded by seven Accor hotels in Bangkok including Novotel Bangkok on Siam Square, Pullman Bangkok King Power, Novotel Bangkok Platinum, Grand Mercure Fortune Bangkok, Novotel Bangkok Ploenchit Sukhumvit, Vie Hotel Bangkok and Grand Sukhumvit Hotel Bangkok. This is in line with the group’s PLANET 21 sustainable development programme where Accor makes 21 commitments to operating more responsibly. 95% of its hotels offer healthy dishes, 85% of them recycle their waste and 70% procure locally-grown foods. Earlier this year,Mercure and ibis Siam joins the “Food for Thought” Programme.
Accor hotels around the world have also embarked on other unique projects to make their supply chain more sustainable. In Siem Reap, Cambodia, Sofitel Angkor Phokeethra works with international NGO Agrisud to help local farmers grown high quality vegetables, resulting in improved incomes for the farmers and the hotel relying less on imports. In New Zealand, Novotel Queenstown Lakeside’s bee colony on the hotel’s roof generates honey served at the hotel’s breakfast buffet. Accor is also committed on banning all endangered seafood such as shark’s fin from restaurant menus by 2015.
Photo credit: Shutterstock