Country: China

A pilot project explores the challenges of sustainable dining in China.

SHENZHEN, China –

Chen Qiyong spends his workdays sorting out food waste left behind from lavish banquets. In the gleaming kitchen where he works, countless plates piled with uneaten food stream in under the stark white lights.

“Only we old folks are willing to do this kind of dirty job. Younger people wouldn’t want to,” says Chen, a 50-something cleaner at the Chinese restaurant in Shenzhen’s YM Gold Olives Harmony International Hotel. Nearby, another colleague chimes in while tugging on a pair of gloves. “They wear out too fast— we buy 25 pairs at a time, just in case,” she adds.

Food waste accounts for nearly half of the total municipal solid waste in the Chinese tech hub of Shenzhen. Much of the fast-growing city’s food waste comes from its catering industry, where it ends up in the hands of workers like Chen.

Meanwhile, incineration and landfilling remain the dominant waste treatment methods in Chinese cities, both among the highest-emitting options. China’s food system is a major source of the country’s emissions, producing roughly 1.9 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent—around the same as the total annual emissions of Russia, the world’s fourth largest polluter. High levels of food waste are among the main factors behind these rising food emissions.

^{At the G Shenzhen’s buffet, staff sort leftovers after guests dine. Some leftovers become meals for the staff.}

^{A customer buys meat at the Futian Wholesale Market in Shenzhen.}

While figures vary depending on methodologies, a 2019 Nature study found a staggering 349 million tons of food—27% of the country’s total production—went uneaten in China each year. Urban restaurants alone wasted at least 34 million tons, enough food to feed up to 49 million people, according to a 2020 government survey.

“At least one-third of food produced globally is wasted, representing a massive loss of natural resource like water, energy, and land,” says Yvonne Wang, a Program Manager in the Beijing office of World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). “If we take action to stop the waste, the impact could be huge.” Tackling food waste is also crucial for China to achieve its climate goals. The country pledged to begin reducing carbon emissions by 2030 and attain carbon neutrality by 2060.

Recognizing this urgency, the Shenzhen One Planet Foundation (OPF) launched Pride on Our Plates in September 2020 together with WWF Beijing, Rare Europe, and Rare China Center for Behavior. The project helps small and medium-sized restaurants implement waste-reduction strategies though a practical framework and staff training, beginning with pilot projects in six cities across China, including Shenzhen and Beijing.

^{At Futian market in Shenzhen, food waste is sorted, cleaned, and hauled away daily.}

In its four-and-a-half years of existence, the project has helped 50 restaurants across China reduce their food waste, including 10 medium-sized hotels with in-house restaurants in Shenzhen. Moreover, Pride on Our Plates has helped to push forward progressive policy changes at the national level, contributing to the formulation of an industry standard that was later endorsed by the central government, Wang says. The food waste reduction implementation guide, which the team developed with the state-affiliated China Hospitality Association (CHA) in Beijing, served as a key reference in a late-2024 national action plan for regional governments and businesses. This broader official plan encourages its adoption to reduce food waste across China’s food systems.

These achievements, however, obscure the significant hurdles the project faced in its early stages. Wang recalled the pilot project’s rocky start. Amid the sporadic harsh lockdowns in China during the COVID-19 pandemic, recruiting restaurants proved far more difficult than anticipated. Progress toward the team’s initial goal of enlisting 100 restaurants was slowed by the pandemic’s impact on the local catering industry. Restaurant owners, struggling to stay afloat, were hesitant to take on additional commitments. To encourage them to participate, the team partnered with local industry associations, offering media exposure opportunities. Still, it took the team more than a year to finish the recruitment amid other preparation work.

^{At Shuiwei Night Market in Shenzhen, a spicy hot pot vendor is taking orders and preparing meals for delivery.}

^{Project Officer Tan Xiao works with Hotel Food Manager Luo in the kitchen of the G Shenzhen Hotel.}

The team also conducted a baseline survey on food loss and waste in the sector before launching training workshops. With the pandemic limiting in-person sessions, most early training took place online. It was a time of uncertainty, with participants coming and going, Wang recalled. “We train staff on waste sorting, weighing, and key procedures,” she says. “Once they leave, we have to start all over again.”

Three restaurants they partnered with in the southern tropical city of Sanya even went bankrupt midway through the project. “It really showed us just how tough this industry can be,” she says.

A Long Battle Against Wasted Food

Chinese authorities have long sought to reduce food waste, viewing it as a threat to food security in the populous country. But its growing middle class and traditional hospitality practices that encourage over-ordering complicate these efforts. To address the food waste issue, China even passed an “Anti-Food Waste Law” in 2021, which included provisions mandating governments at all levels to monitor and evaluate sources of food waste and allowing restaurants to take practical measures, like charging customers a disposal fee for unfinished food.

In recent years, public debates about food waste on the national stage have intensified, driven in part by years of advocacy work from organizations like OPF and WWF, which actively engages with state media, including the government-owned China Central Television, and online influencers. This increased awareness coincides with economic pressures on the restaurant industry, prompting many businesses to recognize the cost-saving benefits of reducing food waste.

However, in 2020, there was still a “gap” in initiatives supporting small and medium-sized business in their food waste reduction efforts, despite their significant role in the catering industry and food chain. According to Yu Xin, program director at WWF China and lead on the project, this gap was the primary reason behind the creation of Pride on Our Plates.

The G Shenzhen, A Tribute Portfolio Hotel, which opened in 2021 as a Marriott property and operates three in-house restaurants, has benefited from the food waste reduction initiative, according to general manager and project participant Jin Haiwei. The initiative, he adds, has also helped the hotel manage operational costs by identifying key areas for improvement across procurement, quality control, stocking, food preparation, and the ordering process.

Food scraps, a major source of waste in the past, are now being put to good use at The G Shenzhen Hotel, according to Jin. Previously, these unused portions were discarded in the pursuit of perfect-looking dishes. Now, they’re either reused to feed hotel staff or transformed into creative new dishes, such as cold dishes made with radish peels, celery leaves, or corn silk.

^{Jin Haiwei, General Manager of The G Shenzhen Hotel.}

^{Manager Luo, in charge of food safety at The G Shenzhen Hotel.}

Given that food catering represents half of the hotel’s revenue, such efforts are essential. “It’s not that we ignored food loss management before,” he says, “but our past efforts were fragmented, not comprehensive.”

To help restaurants track food waste, the project team developed a WeChat mini-program for daily data entry and automatic analysis of waste reduction. Initially, it lacked a way to input the number of customers, leading to discrepancies.

^{In the kitchen of G Hotel in Shenzhen, Project Officer Tan Xiao uploads data to the app.}

“Our food waste fluctuates significantly with the seasons,” explains Fenny Luo, Food Safety Manager at The G Shenzhen Hotel. During periods dominated by buffets and Western-style dishes, the hotel’s restaurants generate up to 400 kilograms of waste daily. However, this figure can soar to 1,750 kilograms— equivalent to five full barrels—during peak season for Chinese banquets. Based on feedback from Luo and others, the project team updated the program, allowing for more accurate tracking of waste.

By the end of the one-year pilot in late 2024, all participating restaurants had met their baseline goal, reducing food waste by at least 10 percent compared to the previous year. However, banquet seasons have proven to be an enduring challenge.

These feasts, typically featuring a full table of grand and elaborate Chinese dishes to symbolize hospitality and prestige, often lead to significantly more food waste than the more measured French or Japanese dishes. According to Luo, the hotel managed to halve their food waste between April and August last year but quickly lost those gains when the banquet season arrived. “Controlling the number after September was just too difficult,” Luo says.

^{Zhan Zhenyi, Executive Chef at Harmony International Hotel.}

Balancing food waste management and hospitality is a delicate act, says Chen Zhikun, Food and Beverage Manager at Harmony International Hotel: “We certainly don’t want guests to feel unwelcome or that the food is insufficient.” Once, he adds, the in-house restaurant tried to adjust the amount of set dishes to reduce leftovers, only to receive immediate complaints from customers. Similar things happened at The G Shenzhen Hotel.

Aware of these challenges, the project team views the pilot as just the beginning. They now plan to develop more detailed guidelines to address banquet seasons while continuing to promote responsible food consumption. They are also hoping to calculate the carbon reduction benefits and cost savings from this project.

What the project has delivered for participating businesses may soon be put to the test, as Shenzhen plans to pilot stricter emissions standards for its hotels. Managers like Jin believe the project experience has come at the right time, helping them to prepare for the test and “get up to speed on reducing carbon emissions.”

Project Leader Yu Xin says that the experience has also been personally fulfilling. “We are quite proud of what we have achieved,” she says. “You get to see that change is possible.

Learn more about Pride on our Plates.

Author: Yuan Ye
Photographer: Xiao Nan

Country: China

China eats a lot. With a population of 1.4 billion, the country is one of the world’s leading agricultural producers, one of the leading consumers—and, unfortunately, one of the major wasters, with 35 million tons of food in China thrown out every year. Over half of that is attributed to dumping excess food upon consumption. The Pride on Our Plates project seeks to strengthen China’s MSMEs (micro, small and medium-sized enterprises) through proven food waste solutions and behavioral insights.

MSMEs, which make up 97% of China’s enterprises, often have limited access to awareness-raising campaigns, trainings, and tools on reducing food waste. Pride on Our Plates seeks to close that gap by empowering China’s MSMEs to respond to the food waste challenge. In particular, the project is focusing on MSMEs in China’s burgeoning hospitality sector.

According to the project, they are the first anti-food waste project targeting the catering industry at such scale in China. The catering industry is still unregulated and represents an important space for growth. Pride on Our Plates works closely with the China Hospitality Association and various local industry associations. The project says they ensure the design of suitable guidelines and policies by connecting relevant local government bodies and stakeholders.

^{During the training, the team designs a game of using different leftover materials to produce recipes.}

Pride on Our Plates implements training programs and pilots in six major cities and has influenced more than 61 million consumers in the past three years. According to the project, as of 2024, 383 restaurants have participated in Pride on Our Plates trainings across China; 458 MSME staff have been trained on food waste prevention, reduction and diversion practices, and 50 pilot MSMEs in the hospitality and food services sector have reduced their food waste by 10%-50%. Pride on Our Plates has also published the first Food Waste Reduction Practical Guide for restaurants in China, which has served as a key reference on the group standard that China’s official Action Plan on Reducing Food Loss and Waste (announced at end of 2024) explicitly promotes. Innovative and diversified events have been organized, such as a Zero Waste Cooking Contest followed by summarizing a Zero Waste Cookbook. The project also launched Care for Food Coalition of Reducing Food Loss and Waste, which they say is the first Cross-Sector Initiative on Food Waste Reduction in China and now has nearly 100 members working together to fight food waste in the country.

As the food system accounts for around 30% of all global greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), actions on food loss and waste (FLW) are important to reduce food system emissions and ensure alignment with a 1.5°C future. Reducing and better managing food waste is one of the easiest and most effective ways to mitigate the environmental impacts of our food system and sustainably feed our communities. And it has other benefits too: according to the project, food waste reduction will help restaurants reduce cost, improve staff competences, enhance lean management, and gain more customers. Keeping food on our plates and out of our bins is something everyone can be proud of.

Learn more about Pride on Our Plates.

Written by Sarah Souli
Images provided by Pride on Our Plates

Country: China

Imagine this. You’ve just eaten a filling, delicious meal in a lovely restaurant. Once the last dessert plates and wine glasses have been cleared away, the bill arrives. As you scrutinize the price, you notice that 1% has been added to your bill. The money will go to farmers, exactly the type of people who grew the food you ate tonight. Would you notice, or care? Zero Foodprint Asia (ZFPA) is banking you won’t notice—and if you do, you’ll have a positive reaction.

ZFPA’s flagship initiative offers an agricultural climate solution that drives systemic change in the food system. Participating restaurants and other food businesses add 1% to the customer’s bill, which they pledge to ZFPA to be pooled into the organization’s Restore Fund. On an annual basis, farmers can apply for this funding to support their transition to regenerative agriculture practices. According to the initiative, the 1% pledge is the only table-to-farm solution in Asia, driving collective, systemic change by reaching a far-reaching audience, and is the most direct and scalable mechanism to support a sustainable shift in the food economy.

According to the initiative, the pledge is designed to be simple for restaurants to implement, requiring no material change to operations or management, leveraging a restaurant’s existing business vehicle to promote the solution and raise funds from diners. This brings wealth back to the soil through a table-to-farm mechanism, directly allowing restaurants and consumers to help grow better food, support thriving farms, and restore our climate. ZFPA specifically focuses on restaurants because, they state, the food and beverage industry is the third most reliant on natural resources.

Once enough money has been collected in ZPFA’s Restore Fund, it is distributed as grants to specific farms. Regenerative Farming (RF) agronomists are assigned to monitor, measure, and evaluate each farm’s progress throughout the project period, and ZPFA publishes regular updates. The project period is typically 12 months, during which the main objectives are capacity building (through training and knowledge sharing) and the replacement of materials and techniques. Projects prioritize the improvement of soil health from day one. The Restore Fund helps smallholder farmers withstand pressure from large agro-chemical industries, and allows farmers to transition to regenerative practices that address food security and nutrition, enhance farmer prosperity, and reduce the system’s vulnerability to climate risk through improved soil health—especially pertinent in Asia, where 70% of all food is grown by small-scale farmers.

According to the initiative, in their first three years of operation, they’ve been able to fund 25 farm projects in five locations (China, Hong Kong, Bali, Philippines and Thailand). Collectively, that accounts for more than 1,500 farmers and over 5,000 impacted farming families. More than 50 restaurant partners and over 90 supporters or donors have signed on and pledged to ZFPA, and they’ve reached over 1.2 million consumers (through the 1% on their bill). Check, please!

Learn more about Zero Foodprint Asia.

Written by Sara Souli
Photos provided by Zero Foodprint Asia

Country: China

Food waste is one of the most costly aspects of the food system, both to the planet and to the purse. And its carbon footprint is particularly heavy in the global foodservice sector, which accounts for 27% of worldwide food waste according to a 2024 United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) report.

An intelligent food waste tracking system from Leanpath has prevented over 130 million pounds of kitchen waste in more than 45 countries, according to the initiative. Working with foodservice organizations across the world, its technology captures critical details of every food waste transaction in the kitchens of its clients.

Making food waste visible, claims Leanpath, is the key to drive action to reduce it. Leanpath’s suite of intelligent hardware and software tools with AI-powered tracking and a new AI-based food waste coaching assistant are designed to work together to highlight the waste that is so often hidden or forgotten in professional kitchens.

A suite of smart scales and cameras measure all food waste stemming from overproduction, spoilage, trim waste (and other sources). Leanpath’s food waste dashboard pinpoints waste patterns. With graphics giving waste overview summaries, participation reports, and trend reports, Leanpath states they create a clear new plan for behavior change with efficiency and precision driving the savings in waste and money.

In the foodservice industry, sustainability and financial goals share a common purpose. For any business looking to improve its triple bottom line, learning how to reduce waste at the source is a no-brainer. Leanpath’s aim is to reform the global food system and reach Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, which seeks to cut food waste by half. The company claims that its unique range of tools and strategies to prevent overproduction and other causes of food waste will ensure economic, social, and environmental benefits for the entire industry.

Since it was founded in 2004, Leanpath has worked with more than 4,000 sites around the globe including partnerships with Sodexo, Compass, Aramark, Google and hundreds of other clients.

Leanpath says that it has already prevented 10 million pounds of food waste at Google alone, the equivalent of eliminating 25,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Learn more about Leanpath.

Written by Gilly Smith
Photos provided by Leanpath

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