Exciting news! Open Kitchen has made its formal commitment to Net Zero, completed our baseline carbon assessment, and completed our first annual carbon reduction plan!
Working with experienced partners Positive Planet, the independent, we’ve completed a full carbon lifecycle assessment of our operation and developed a carbon reduction plan – to get to net zero by 2038.
As part of the plan Open Kitchen has set itself a tough target of reducing scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 42% by 2030.
Founder and Executive Director Corin Bell, explained the approach: “We won't be doing any carbon offsetting at all for at least the next six years, and instead focusing all carbon reduction activity on real changes that will genuinely reduce our emissions.”
Early actions in the campaign have included partnering with zero delivery emissions business, Zedify, to introduce people-powered cargo bike deliveries for smaller catering orders.
And switching our wine supplier to Sustainable Wine Solutions (Borough Wines) who offer organic and natural wines in reusable bottles and kegs, further reducing waste and packaging.
Open Kitchen has also bought its first 100% electric van and increased the amount of very local (within 20 miles) sustainably-produced vegetables we buy from small-scale independent growers by 30%.
Corin again: “It has already been a hugely encouraging start. Our plan is available for all our customers and staff to see on our website, and we'll report every year on how we're doing. I am so proud of my team – they have got involved in the process with great enthusiasm.”
Open Kitchen’s plan is a call to action to other food and drink businesses and smaller companies.
The hospitality industry is the third largest contributor to the UK economy, producing 2.87 million tonnes of waste (including food, packaging and other non-food waste) every year.
With its outside catering service, Open Kitchen offers a completely reusable lightweight range of crockery and cutlery, and compostable and 100% recycled packaging options that are the most sustainable disposable products available.
Research by The Waste and Resource Action Programme (WRAP) shows that food waste can be a significant contributor to scope 3 emissions in the industry. As scope 3 emissions can comprise as much as 95% of a food and drink business total carbon footprint, reducing food waste can significantly reduce the emissions of the business overall.
Open Kitchen already works with a huge range of food businesses to intercept perfectly edible food that would otherwise go to waste, and also educates on smarter ordering.
Corin added: “We will be launching a new initiative next month to ramp up focus on this.”
She concluded: “Sustainable and ethical trading are at the heart of everything we do. Announcing a net zero plan is a natural step for us. It gives us a road map to keep pushing ourselves, our people, suppliers and customers to go ‘planet first’ in all we do.”
There is a commercial imperative too. Corin finally: “By being on a net zero journey ourselves we are the obvious catering partner of choice for customers who care about their own footprint. It’s a win-win.”
Check out our carbon reduction plan!
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