• The first three hotels to receive the certification were the Riu Concordia, Riu Festival and Riu San Francisco in Playa de Palma

The hospitality industry is a sector in which a huge amount of food is consumed, and it involves the entire agri-food value chain. In addition, the United Nations estimates that one-third of the food produced in the world ends up in the bin, while the incidence of severe famine is increasing, and that almost half of child deaths are related to malnutrition. That’s why the fight against food waste is one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, specifically, the second: “Zero Hunger”. This alliance is a challenge that aims to combat a global problem with enormous environmental, social, and financial implications, since, among many other advantages, reducing waste has a high direct benefit in terms of cost savings.

To become certified, the hotels have carried out a great deal of evaluation, control, and monitoring work in which the role of AENOR and RIU professionals is essential. The certification specifies several key steps to follow in order to take advantage of the opportunity to learn and improve in the processes of reducing leftover food. First, a food waste inventory is carried out, defining actions to reduce and prevent waste. This is reflected in a plan with specific objectives and goals, which are documented and exhaustively monitored through a management plan drawn up by RIU. Once the relevant verifications, evaluations, and checks were carried out in the kitchens themselves by AENOR, the three certificates were awarded, without any point of “Non-Conformity”. The certification is valid for three years, with annual reviews.

This is a major challenge for RIU with which it aims to contribute to confronting a global problem. To do this, it relies on its kitchen and dining room teams, which are the main protagonists of these changes. AENOR stresses that the fundamental pillars are reduce, reuse, redistribute, and recycle. Therefore, it is essential to avoid overproduction and adapt it to demand, optimising operations to be more efficient, since one of the most critical places for food waste is buffets.

About AENOR:

AENOR’s differential competitive advantages include higher brand recognition between companies (B2B) and consumers (B2C); it has its own staff, which allows it to manage the accumulated knowledge for the benefit of its customers; it innovates in the resolution of new competitiveness gaps thanks to its proximity to sources of knowledge; and it has geographical and sectoral capillarity.

AENOR is a global entity which already carries out operations in 87 countries. There are 19 offices in Spain in all the Autonomous Communities with their own auditors and a permanent presence in 12 other countries, mainly in Latin America and Europe.