When you think of it, food is a pretty daunting subject. Hundreds of millions of people are undernourished, and at the same time, well over 1 billion tonnes of food is wasted each year.
Discouraging? Perhaps. But Electrolux chooses to tackle the challenges associated with food head on. The company has adopted a global approach to social investment, focusing on food and sustainability.
The Group’s first move was to set up the Electrolux Food Foundation in September 2016, a long-term platform for funding employee initiatives in food and sustainability to support the communities around us. Electrolux has initially invested SEK 10m to establish the Food Foundation financed Feed the Planet, which is a Worldchefs (World Association of Chefs' Societies) initiative in partnership with the youth organization AIESEC.
Feed the Planet encourages members of Worldchefs to bring about positive change in the world. And since the organization is made up of around 10 million chefs in over 100 countries, ready to use their profession and influence for good, we are set to achieve great things.
“Feeding the world’s growing population in a sustainable way is one of the greatest challenges of our time. We believe Electrolux has both a responsibility and an opportunity to contribute on issues related to cooking and food consumption”, says Jonas Samuelson, President and CEO of Electrolux.
By working together, the Feed the Planet partners hope to leverage their expertise, network and global reach to make the most of their individual contributions to a sustainable food future. Their common goal is to inspire better cooking and eating habits both at home and among professionals, promoting healthy and planet-friendly choices. Feed the Planet reaches out to people in need; the support ranges from advice on cooking on a tight budget to providing emergency relief.
While alarming numbers of people suffer from not having access to enough nutritious food, some parts of the world do not make use of what they actually have. Electrolux contributes in different ways – some actions are meant to help here and now, for instance the 16,000 meals donated during one week in 2016 in the US, while other take aim at longer term change, such as changing consumer behavior to minimize food waste.
One initiative that aims to influence longer term consumption habits is the campaign #UglyIsTheNewGood by Electrolux Singapore. Close to half (!) of food produce does not make it from the farm to the grocery store and on to people’s plates, in part due to imperfections. So enormous quantities of fruit and vegetables go to waste, simply because they do not fit the food industry’s strict ‘beauty standards’. #UglyIsTheNewGood encourages people to eat ‘ugly’ food to help reduce food waste. Also, the website happyplate.sg offers ideas on how to use ugly food, with a range of delicious and nutritious recipes created by Eric Low, a well-known Singaporean/local chef.
#UglyIsTheNewGood is part of a broader Asia Pacific program, with initiatives so far in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam. The programs all combine raising awareness on food waste amongst consumers with food donations to families and children in need, through collaborations with food banks and other not-for-profit organizations. Since the program’s inception in late 2015, it has achieved the following:
The challenges to do with food are daunting to say the least, which is precisely why more of us need to come up with even better solutions and put them into action. Electrolux is committed to doing their part:
“We have had a global approach to the impact of our operations and products for many years. Now, we are widening the scope of sustainability to address our role in society in a more focused way,” says Samuelsson.
In 2016, the Electrolux Food Foundation reviewed several long-term employee projects to be funded in the next few years.
This case study is related to our promise Be a force for good