Food Waste Starts Before the Plate - and So Must the Solution Artwork

Climate Confident - Practical Climate Solutions That Cut Emissions

Climate Confident is for business leaders, climate professionals and policymakers who need to understand what is actually cutting emissions—and what it takes to make those solutions work at scale.

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Climate Confident - Practical Climate Solutions That Cut Emissions

Food Waste Starts Before the Plate - and So Must the Solution

April 15, 2026 • Tom Raftery • Season 1 • Episode 270

0:00 | 36:46

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What if one of the most effective climate tech moves in hospitality isn’t flashy at all, but simply wasting less food with far better data?

In this episode, I’m joined by Olaf van der Veen, co-founder of Orbisk, to unpack a climate tech story that sits right at the intersection of decarbonisation, operational control, and the energy transition. We talk about food waste, but this is bigger than leftovers. It’s about hidden system failure, margin pressure, emissions reduction, and why cutting waste may be one of the most practical net zero levers available to commercial kitchens right now.

You’ll hear why food waste in restaurants, hotels, cruise ships, and corporate dining is often less about bad habits and more about broken forecasting, poor process design, and weak visibility. We dig into how Orbisk uses AI, computer vision, and IoT to show kitchens exactly what is being wasted, when, and why, and how that turns a vague sustainability ambition into something measurable and fixable. You might be shocked to learn how often the real losses happen before food ever reaches a plate.

We also get into the harder-edged business case: why food waste is pure bottom-line loss, why economics still drive most action faster than policy, and how the smartest operators are linking profitability and sustainability instead of pretending they sit on opposite sides of the ledger. No fluff. No green gloss. Just real-world climate solutions that cut costs, improve control, and reduce emissions.

🎙️ Listen now to hear how Olaf van der Veen and Orbisk are turning food waste into a serious climate tech and decarbonisation opportunity.

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