Building an Eco-Friendly Future: Part 2
Continuing Our Conversation on Sustainable Food Supply Chain Management
Food is a necessity for life. However, the production and distribution of food has an undeniable impact on climate change. That’s why exploring options for sustainable food supply chain management is so important. Read the second half of our conversation with Graham Givens, Foodbuy’s Chief of Sustainability, below.
Are There any Food Products That You Think Operators Will Lean Towards from a Sustainability Standpoint?
I think we’ll continue to see strong consumer interest in creative plant-forward options. Not just from a sustainability or health perspective but from a cost perspective. There’s an opportunity to find cost savings, from my understanding, with menuing more plant-based options.
How About Non-Food Products?
I think we’ll continue to see folks push for reusable items. We definitely are seeing that in the higher education space where students are really wanting to see a complete elimination of single use items.
I think beyond that, we need more of a focus on infrastructure that helps create the circular economy we’re looking for. What I mean by that is creating a product life cycle where we’re reusing the material that would have otherwise gone to waste. Composting and recycling have an important role to play in mitigating the impact of single-use products and more investments need to be made to allow for more products to go through these processes
How Are Distribution Practices Changing to Increase Sustainability?
From our perspective, we want to continue to see an increase in local and regional procurement because we know the impact that can have. There are significant ripple effects across the entire supply chain.
In addition, we hope to see more distributors moving towards electric vehicles when they become available. Obviously, gas prices being where they’re at, we may see adoption happen even sooner.
What Benefits Could Businesses See from Putting More Effort Into Sustainability?
We know this is something that customers and clients care deeply about. And even putting aside that it’s the right thing to do, we believe there’s a strong business case to be made for sustainability. Reducing waste and single-use products (where appropriate) can help operators meet their cost targets. Every operator will have different needs and requirements, but if they’re not exploring ways to make their operation more sustainable, we believe they’re missing out on a big opportunity.
Learn more about sustainability initiatives at Foodbuy here.