Generation Waste's new mobile application will help Academedia reduce food waste
With the help of Generation Waste's new mobile application, the educational company Academedia will reduce food waste in its schools. - The tool Generation Waste offers is the solution we were looking for; i.e. a user-friendly system that can give us the statistics we need to be able to move forward in our sustainability work says Academedia's meal developer Anna Blomqvist.
Academedia is Northern Europe's largest educational company: They have a total of 690 preschools, elementary schools, upper secondary schools, and adult education. 75,000 lunches are served daily. The lunches are already served today with a sustainable focus, among other things they continuously measure eco-labeled raw materials and also have the ambition to have two completely vegetarian meals a week. Now, with the help of Generation Waste, they want to take sustainability work to the next level.
The collaboration starts with Academedia starting to measure at one of its schools, but meal developer Anna Blomqvist believes that the collaboration can extend further than that.
"In the future, I see the collaboration with Generation Waste as a valuable starting point that can broaden our views on how to work with food waste more efficiently. We are sure that, with the help of Generation Waste and the app, we can bring more than just the kitchen staff to our schools. What principal would not be interested in reducing their raw material costs," says Anna Blomqvist.
New mobile application to replace Ipad as measuring tool
Previous customers that Generation Waste has worked with have used a stationary Ipad set up in the kitchen. Now, instead, Generation Waste's new mobile application will be used for the first time, something that CEO Daniel Oddhammar believes is a step in the right direction.
"During the spring, we developed a mobile application that will facilitate the measurement of wastage and at the same time reduce the cost for the customer. We developed the application in connection with noticing that there was an interest among larger organizations in measuring their food waste. We believe this solution is a step in the right direction", announces Daniel Oddhammar.
Want to educate environmentally smart future consumers
Generation Waste has previously only worked with private restaurants, but for some time now has wanted to measure food waste in larger kitchens; such as, for example, school kitchens. In part, the problem with wastage in school kitchens is big and in part, there is an opportunity to influence future consumers, says Daniel Oddhammar.
"Everyone knows how big the problem with food waste in our Swedish school kitchens is. We see this collaboration as a great opportunity to not only help reduce food waste but also to influence the younger generation to become climate-smart consumers," says Daniel Oddhammar.
Anna Blomqvist also sees the benefits of implementing sustainability thinking already at school.
"Children and students can learn a lot from a school canteen if the staff is committed and shares their knowledge. As a school, you show a commitment and responsibility for our environment both towards guardians and students, which gives a belief in the future. I think that's important," says Anna Blomqvist.