Yzabelle Bostyn
Mallorcan hotel chain RIU is leading a sustainable hotel project encouraging kitchens to reuse leftover food.
The Playa de Palma venue, hotel San Francisco now has its own ‘laboratory’ to turn leftover fruit and vegetables into new ‘high quality’ ingredients.
According to the United Nations over a third of the food produced worldwide ends up in landfill.
A push towards a ‘circular economy’ where products can be used time and time again, will reduce the strain of overproduction on the environment.
Not only this, but the project also reduces costs over time.
The tourism industry and especially hotel buffets, are guilty of food waste.
Now, a ‘sustainable buffet’ by RIU San Francisco is hoping to change this.
The pioneering pilot project is run by the local council and waste management business, Tirme.
It will see leftover food from the hotel’s buffet sent to a waste specialist, who will break down the leftovers into compost.
This will then be used by local farmers, such Agromallorca and Son March to grow fruit and vegetables which will later be served in the very same buffet.
Hotel guests will be able to learn about the sustainable origin of their dishes by scanning a QR code on the buffet belt.
They will be able to see where the ingredients came from, who farmed them, the amount of CO2 emissions avoided, the green energy produced and the amount of compost used to make the product.
Soon, all RIUs five hotels on the Playa de Palma will participate in the project, after which it will be expanded throughout Mallorca.
The plans have made RIU San Francisco the only hotel in Spain certified with ‘zero avoidable food waste’ by AENOR, The Spanish Association for Standardization and Certification.
