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McCormick Blog

Purpose-Led Performance April 10, 2023

Engaging our Employees to Tackle Food Waste

McCormick employees volunteering

Our Purpose-Led Performance goals outline McCormick’s commitment to doing what’s right for people, communities and the planet, however, none of our ambitious targets can be achieved without our most important asset – our employees. While tackling the world’s sustainability challenges can seem overwhelming to many, we are working to engage our employees in fun and interactive ways, encouraging them to take simple steps to create a positive impact.

In 2022, one of our focus areas was food waste and insecurity. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that greenhouse gas emissions from food wasted in the U.S. are equivalent to those produced by 42 coal-fired power plants annually. While McCormick has committed to a goal of 85% recycling and recovery of solid waste from our facilities to be met by 2030, our campaign was designed to also help employees reduce waste at home. We partnered with several organizations to educate our employees, inspiring some colleagues in Australia to challenge their local team to #showusyourleftovers. 

OzHarvest is a leading food rescue organization, based in Australia, on a mission to stop good food from going to waste by delivering it to charities that help feed people in need. After joining a session to learn about the organization, its evolution and impact, volunteers from McCormick Australia took turns to spend a day with an OzHarvest van driver and experience first-hand how they reduce food waste and feed the underprivileged at the same time.

This collaboration inspired McCormick Australia employees, Richard Brogan and Annaliese Hagan, to start a campaign with their colleagues to address their own food waste: “The largest source of food waste comes from our homes, so every step we take at home is a step towards reducing the biggest cause of food waste, a step towards reducing global hunger, a step towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions and a step towards freeing up valuable land and water resources,” says Richard.

McCormick employees volunteering

"The largest source of food waste comes from our homes, so every step we take at home is a step towards reducing the biggest cause of food waste, a step towards reducing global hunger, a step towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions and a step towards freeing up valuable land and water resources." - Richard Brogan

The campaign they created, #showusyourleftovers, encouraged employees to take a pledge to create one meal a week using leftovers, and then share a picture of the meal on social media or via email. The reaction to the campaign was overwhelmingly positive, with recipe ideas being shared, including some creative ways to use McCormick products to enhance the flavor of the leftovers!

In addition to the OzHarvest partnership, McCormick also collaborated with ReFED, a national nonprofit dedicated to ending food waste across the food system, and The Full Freezer, an organization that helps households reduce their food waste and cook from scratch more by teaching them how to use their freezers more effectively, to provide global webinars for our employees. The ReFED team educated employees on how an inclusive food system can be created, that optimizes environmental resources, minimizes climate impacts, and makes the best use of the food we grow. To help put this into action, Kate Hall, founder of The Full Freezer, introduced food waste tips, shared frozen food storage techniques, and taught employees how to repurpose leftovers through a live, in-kitchen cooking demonstration.

As for Richard and Annaliese, their initiative is a demonstration of McCormick’s “Power of People” principle. “We were inspired to show how easy it can be to make a difference,” Richard says. “We would love this to become an annual event and encouraged throughout the wider McCormick world.” Annaliese has ambitions to spread the word outside of just our employees: “We also hope to take learnings from this internal campaign to action in our consumer facing socials – showcasing our McCormick and OzHarvest partnership to our followers and encouraging them to take action to reduce food waste too.” With the right collaborators, lots of enthusiasm, and a sprinkling of our products for additional flavor, McCormick employees are working together to make a difference, one meal at a time.

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