Sustainable kitchens

The last decade saw considerable growth in the food service sector with the global rise of “eating out” and emergence of food delivery apps. Projected growth in this sector will intensify resource use and environmental impact in terms of energy, water, solid waste, and air pollution. To a considerable extent, these issues are embedded in the food service sector due to a lack of consistent operational control of equipment, regular maintenance, use of resource-efficient equipment, food production and waste diversion systems, and design of retail spaces.

This project aims to develop a programme based on the Food Waste-Energy-Water-Emissions (FEWE) nexus to systematically evaluate and drive sustainability practices in commercial kitchens.

In one year of GCSO funding, this project will:
Develop, test and refine an audit and monitoring protocol in order to publish a data-driven, evidence based widely tested sustainable kitchen programme, using four guiding principles:

  1. minimize energy requirements,
  2. minimize water consumption,
  3. limit and treat food waste, and
  4. mitigate air, water, chemical and greenhouse gas emissions.

GCSO Participants:
City University of Hong Kong

  1. Shauhrat Chopra, School of Energy and Environment
  2. Chak K. Chan, School of Energy and Environment

Dublin City University

  1. Samantha Fahy, Office of the Chief Operations Officer

King’s College London

  1. Julie Allen, Estates & Facilities

Arizona State University

  1. Christopher Wharton, School of Nutrition and Health promotion, College of Health Solutions

Implementing Partners: