ICCA Congress 2025’s commitment to achieving zero food waste to landfill through food rescue efforts and responsible food waste management has led to 731kg of food donated and 385kg of food transformed. Altogether, these efforts contribute to the prevention of 2,789kg of carbon emissions.
Benjamin Lephilibert, CEO of LightBlue and co-founder of The Pledge on Food Waste, whose team is supporting ICCA on its responsible event catering drive, shared these findings with TTGmice.
He noted that preventive measures, such as partnerships with local charities to collect food surplus, training for catering company staff on proper segregation of food waste, and communications with event organiser and attendees ahead of the Congress have been instrumental in the zero food waste to landfill movement.
Lephilibert emphasised the importance of looking beyond emissions savings when it comes to food waste management. Through responsible event catering, edible food not served at events is being channelled to needy communities that could use good, hot meals.
He welcomes more interactions with Congress delegates to help them understand the movement of fighting food waste as well as The Pledge on Food Waste’s Zero Food Waste to Landfill event certification.
Event delegates can easily be part of the movement by dining sensibly – not overloading their plates and be committed to finishing their food. And once they are on the journey together, they will gain a Food Waste Warrior stamp on their badge.
When asked if conversations on fighting food waste at business events have become easier since sustainability awareness is growing, Lephilibert said there was still a way to go.
“It is good that event attendees are getting really interested in the food waste movement now. We are utilising online and on-site touch points to raise awareness, and sharing data collected by food waste monitoring systems, like our FIT Food Waste Tech, to show the difference between the talk and the actual walk,” he said.
While events held in cities with progressive laws on food waste management can help organisers see success in their zero food waste to landfill movement, Lephilibert said the same could still be achieved in cities without strict food waste reduction processes.
“There are local partners that can work with event organisers on food collection and food rescue, and there are those are active in collecting organic waste and transforming with verified evidence to show,” stated Lephilibert.
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