- November 23, 2023
- Posted by: SportsV
- Categories: Home News, Industry News, News, Press Releases
With the new Premier League season well underway, Brighton & Hove Albion fans are being fed a lot more sustainably, as food waste from The Amex Stadium has started to be sent to a regenerative farm in West Sussex that the club’s venue partner, Sodexo Live! works with. The food waste is then used to help grow future crops and produce that are sent back and used in the club’s kitchens.
Sodexo Live! has had 1.5 acres of exclusive farmland at Full Circle Farms, in West Hoathly, for several years, which uses fully regenerative methods to grow crops and produce. Since working with the farm, more than three tonnes of organic vegetables – the equivalent weight to more than 7,600 Premier League footballs – have been used across venues and events where Sodexo Live! operates.
Since August, food waste from Brighton & Hove’s American Express Stadium has joined this process and in turn is helping to feed the thousands of fans and guests that visit each week more sustainably.
Once received, the food waste is composted on-site, in Full Circle Farm’s mobile composting systems, and once the compost has been at a temperature of 75 to 80 degrees for a minimum of two weeks, the machines are then emptied, and the compost is delivered to the farm to feed the soil to help grow the next set of crops. These will include cucumbers, kale, courgettes and onions.
Coming full circle
In order to deliver fruit and vegetables to sites within hours of being picked, the produce is harvested in the early morning when the weather is at its coolest, loaded directly into crates, and driven to its destination, arriving at sites by about 8:00am. The farm delivers the seasonal produce within a 1.5-hour radius, eliminating the need for a refrigerated van, which reduces energy use.
No fertilisers, herbicides or pesticides are used on the farm. Instead, Farmer Tom Morphew, CEO of Full Circle Farms, and his team, build soil fertility using organic compost and manures. This helps improve all ecosystem processes, such as the water cycle and mineral cycle availability. In a highly natural process, animals are also used to manage the land and help restore the soil. For example, a pig will support the turning of the soil and mixing-in of green renewers. This process feeds the nutrients back into the soil to help produce vegetables.
As well as helping to feed fans more sustainably, Sodexo Live!’s partnership with Full Circle Farms also helps to work towards its own CSR aims and objectives. Its target is to be carbon neutral for its own direct operations by 2025, and to reach Net Zero by 2040. Growing the regenerative farm offering will allow Sodexo Live! to achieve these aims and bolsters its Appetite for Action campaign to further reduce food waste.
Sports Venue Business CEO, Katie McIntyre, will be joining Rebecca Kane Burton, CEO, Sodexo Live! UK & Ireland, at next month’s Women in Football event, taking place at Hampden Park, another Sodexo Live! venue partner.
Paul Barber OBE, Deputy Chairman & Chief Executive, Brighton & Hove Albion, said:
Brighton & Hove Albion is committed to becoming a truly sustainable venue, and excellent initiatives like this from our venue partner Sodexo Live!, will help us to achieve this. Not only does this help our food waste credentials, but it also helps to create many delicious dishes that our fans and guests love each time they visit the American Express Stadium.
David Trotter, Divisional Managing Director (Sports & Stadia) at Sodexo Live! UK & Ireland, said:
Sodexo Live! is the global leader in the live industry, for good reason. We serve tens of thousands of customers each week, and we lead from the front by prioritising sustainability, food provenance, and education in everything we do. One of the best examples of this is through our partnership with Full Circle Farms. This is just the beginning at Brighton & Hove Albion, and we look forward to providing fresh fruit and vegetables in a more sustainable way to more venues and events across the UK.
Tom Morphew, CEO, Full Circle Farms, added:
Our aim is to reduce and re-think food waste while supplying these venues, like Brighton & Hove Albion with an amazing range of seasonal, and sustainable, fruit and vegetables from the farm. Regenerative farming has numerous advantages, including educating people about where their favourite ingredients come from and how being part of nature benefits people’s health and wellbeing.
Image above illustrates the circularity of regenerative farming woth Sodexo Live! and Full Circle Farms
About Sodexo Live!
Sodexo Live! supports some of the UK and Ireland’s most iconic music, cultural and sporting events, plus conference centres, by delivering world class hospitality and food services. We help deliver globally recognised live events with a proven track record of creating exceptional moments that bring people together. We help our venue partners to reach their true potential. We create exceptional moments and lasting memories for guests every time they visit the venues we serve, supporting long term revenue growth and delivering sustainable benefit in the heart of communities.
Globally, Sodexo Live! contributes to the success of events such as Royal Ascot, the Tour de France, the Rugby World Cup and soon the Paris 2024 Games, and showcases exceptional venues such as the Eiffel Tower Restaurants, Bateaux Parisiens, Yachts de Paris, the Royal Academy of Arts in London, the Museo del Prado in Madrid, the Hard Rock Stadium, the Scottish National Gallery, and the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.
Other venues in the UK include Fulham FC, the ACC Liverpool, and Edinburgh’s magnificent Signet Library.
Sodexo Live! is part of Sodexo, which provides catering, facilities management, employee benefits and personal home services to 80 million consumers daily in 45 countries. At Sodexo, we believe in the difference a day makes. That’s why we are proud to focus on people’s essential needs: we see them as key to improve the quality of life. We know that by focusing on the tangible, the real, the concrete improvements, day after day, for millions of people, we have a big impact not only on individuals but also on society and the planet. We believe it all starts with the everyday.
About Full Circle Farms and regenerative farming
Full Circle Farms does not use any fertilisers, herbicides, pesticides or weed killers. Instead, farmers build soil fertility using organic compost and manures. This helps improve all ecosystem processes, such as the water cycle and mineral cycle availability. Animals are also used to help manage the land. For example, a pig will support the turning of the soil and mixing-in of green renewers. This process feeds the nutrients back into the soil to help produce vegetables such as beetroot and kale.
Appropriate food waste from Sodexo Live! sites is sent back to Full Circle Farms to begin the regenerative process. To do this the farm composts our food waste in its mobile composting systems, and once the compost has been at a temperature of 75 to 80 degrees for a minimum of two weeks, the machines are then emptied, and the compost delivered to the farm to feed the soil. This then helps to grow the next lot of produce which in turn is sent back to Sodexo Live! venues and events for chefs to use in their dishes.
There currently is no recognised definition for regenerative agriculture; take a look at Full Circle Farms website to read about Full Circle’s sustainable principles. Regenerative Agricultural Advice — Full Circle Farms Sussex.
Main image (top): Farmer Tom Morphew CEO of Full Circle Farms, delivering produce to Brighton & Hove Albion
Source & imagery, courtesy: Sodexo Live!
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