5. Will the Commission outline efforts to reduce food waste on the Assembly estate? OAQ55049

Can I thank Bethan Sayed for her question on a matter that I'm sure concerns all of us in the Chamber? Can I assure her, and the rest of the Chamber, that the catering service in the Assembly works hard to reduce food waste where possible? Through effective menu and portion planning based on historical trends and differing daily customer demands. The relatively small amount of food waste generated, which is sent for composting at a local facility, is confirmation of the effectiveness of their efforts. 

Thank you for that reply. I know that many Assembly Members organise events, and we know, potentially, how costly some of the food can be here. We have to be aware of ordering what we need for such events, so that we don't over order, and so that we ensure that guests are able to enjoy themselves and enjoy the sustenance that we given them. But I have been told by many who attend events, or many people who work here, that there may be some food that is recycled so that people can actually eat the food in the local area, by giving it to a local charity, but in some circumstances the food, despite the fact that it's still edible, goes to waste. That doesn't need to happen when there is so much left over after events.

Of course, many Assembly staff are very happy to take away trays of sandwiches from these events, but I'm thinking if there are, for example, local homelessness or local food bank-style charities in the local area—? We have to lead by example and, before getting to the point of recycling the food in that way, I would hope that we could recycle it in a way where we could be helping humans to consume it who may need it more than us. 

I thank Bethan for her supplementary. The fact of the matter is, obviously, that the best way is that we have far less waste at all. But unfortunately, the catering service is compelled to comply with food hygiene regulations, which stipulates that chilled food laid out for buffets at room temperature must be disposed of after four hours. The Commission must point out that most buffets are requested by external event organisers who are responsible for purchasing the correct amount of food required. I understand that these are advised by the catering management to order conservatively. However, there is a natural risk-averse culture among organisers who do not want to see buffet shortages for guests, which often results is over ordering.

I must admit that I do concur with Bethan that we should be reaching out to local charities et cetera, and requesting perhaps that they could pick up this food at a very early stage, explaining to them that it has to be disposed of. But there is a difficulty as well, which has been explained to me by the catering manager, should somebody take food under those circumstances leave it for six or seven hours and then contract something from eating that food, the catering company is said to be responsible for that. 

I just want to probe this a little bit further, because I see some of the waste that I know is going into the bin. And given that one third of all food is wasted in this country, we clearly have an obligation to try to ensure that that is not happening. I was interested to hear you talk about the four-hour rule, because I've been told by staff that it's a two-hour rule. And that obviously means that the catering staff are instructed to gather up all the food that's left over and dispose of it in a bin, and that is unbelievably distressing. Clearly, we need to order the right amount, but I also think we need to really hone in hard on how, if people haven't turned up for whatever reason, we can ensure it gets to people who really need food within the local community, and develop the sort of links that supermarkets have made with other charitable organisations.

Well, I can only agree with you entirely on those comments. Unfortunately, it's much more difficult to actually do this in practice than the theory of this, but we are always looking—the Commission and, of course, the catering staff are always looking for alternatives to this waste of food.

Thank you.