Sustainability starts closer to home – How The CCD reduces food waste internally.

At The Convention Centre Dublin (The CCD), we are constantly looking for new ways where we can impact the world around us positively. Through our partnership with Positive Carbon, CCD Hospitality have taken significant steps in reducing food waste, ensuring that our operations align with the commitment we make to being a sustainable venue.

Since launching our food waste reduction initiative in August 2024, The CCD has seen remarkable progress. We have installed advanced monitoring systems across our catering facilities, allowing us to track, analyse and minimise food waste very effectively. One of our standout successes has been in The Hive staff restaurant, where an 80% reduction in preparation and production waste was achieved between September and December 2024, despite having served more people in that time. By carefully reviewing food trends and adjusting menus accordingly, we have significantly lowered excess production while maintaining our usual standard of high-quality dining for our teams.

As part of this project, we now have the ability to track savings and measure waste reduction as a percentage of revenue. In our prep kitchen, food waste dropped by 50%, despite serving more delegates and generating higher revenue during the later months. Some of the key changes included retraining our staff on whole-ingredient use and repurposing food scraps into new dishes, reducing waste on staple ingredients such as onions, which saw a 41% decrease, and bread, which was reduced by 51%.

Large-scale events can pose a unique challenge when it comes to food waste. By implementing real-time monitoring and adjusting production based on demand, we’ve been able to achieve significant reductions. Our ability to adapt production after the first day of a multi-day event has led to leaner, more efficient catering throughout the duration of an event. We have identified peak waste times, allowing us to refine production planning. High-waste foods such as mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables are now closely monitored and adjusted based on demand.

Building on our success, we are taking our sustainability efforts even further. The next phase of our plans include integrating sales data to measure food waste as a percentage of revenue and track financial savings. We are also redesigning our menus using waste reduction insights to ensure more efficient food usage. Additionally, we are actively engaging with clients to share food waste results and collaborate on sustainable event planning. Through these initiatives, we aim to set a new standard in sustainable event catering.

At The CCD, we believe that every action counts when it comes to sustainability. By working together—our chefs, staff, clients and visitors – we can continue to innovate and lead the way in food waste reduction.