INTERNATIONAL. Lagardère Travel Retail has launched a new anti-waste programme called FLOW (Fighting To Limit Our Waste). The retailer describes the initiative as a means of addressing “the pressing environmental, economic and ethical challenges surrounding food waste in the travel retail industry”.
The new commitment from Lagardère Travel Retail extends beyond its food & beverage outlets in travel environments. It also involves its worldwide travel essentials, duty free and fashion businesses.
The retailer noted that the FLOW Anti-Waste Program is rooted in the United Nations (UN) Food and Waste Reduction Program, Champions 12.3.
This initiative, led by a coalition of executives and representatives from civil society, is dedicated to inspiring ambition, mobilising action and accelerating progress towards achieving one of the Sustainable Development Goals targets by 2030.
The UN target is to halve per capita global food waste at retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains by 2030.
At its core, the Lagardère Travel Retail’s FLOW programme seeks to fight waste by leveraging “every possible success factor to reduce wastage, all while ensuring that the topic is accessible to all”.
The FLOW Anti-Waste Program is built on five pillars: Measurement, staff engagement, anti-waste standard operating procedure, in-store promotions and excess food management.
Lagardère Travel Retail EVP Foodservice and FLOW Sponsor Mélanie Guilldou commented: “At Lagardère Travel Retail, we are committed to building a more sustainable travel retail environment. The FLOW Anti-Waste Program is a key initiative under our Corporate Social Responsibility PEPS roadmap, to address food waste and more globally to avoid, reduce and repurpose unsold products across the company’s operations.”
To promote the programme in-store, an identity has been developed around the FLOW brand, emphasising the importance of fighting waste and the notion of fluidity, with the Lagardère Travel Retail tagline ‘Go with the FLOW, limit our waste & go’.
Lagardère Travel Retail pointed out that it has already implemented numerous initiatives to prevent food waste in recent years within its ecosystem. For example, in France, the Défi no Gaspi initiative has aimed to better educate and inform customers on food waste issues, while applications have been used in several countries to facilitate the sale of products nearing expiration through discounted baskets.
Another example comes from Poland, one of the seven countries where the retailer partners with Too Good to Go.
In addition to these initiatives, unsold items are donated to associations, either directly or through platforms that redistribute donations to NGOs such as Food Angels in Hong Kong, the Goodr Program in the US and the Last Minute Market in Italy.
Regarding the transformation of losses, several initiatives exist in different countries, Lagardère Travel Retail noted. For example, in the Czech Republic, an intelligent composter has been implemented by the retailer to reduce the weight of trash and valorise it. The compost is then made available to customers for free along with instructions on its use.
In the United Arab Emirates, Lagardère Travel Retail teams have partnered with the start-up Bean and Beyond to recover coffee grounds and produce mushrooms that are then used in recipes.
To share best practices among countries, the travel retailer has created a community of chefs to promote anti-waste, vegan and vegetarian recipes. The goal is to involve the chefs in actions to develop recipes that minimise Lagardère Travel Retail’s carbon footprint. Responsible recipes are made available to all countries through an online platform.
Lagardère Travel Retail said: “Today, all these initiatives continue to thrive and will be reinforced under the FLOW Anti-Waste Program umbrella, contributing to reducing the environmental impact of waste and offering the benefit of providing quality products that can be quickly consumed at a lower price while participating in a virtuous circle. This programme is tailor-made for travel retail and specifically to airports and the airside part of operations.” ✈
