Sands ECO360 Launches Annual Global Clean Plate Challenge

Las Vegas Sands’ Team Members around the world are taking part in the annual Sands ECO360 Clean Plate Challenge, a global campaign designed to reduce food waste and to improve the company’s worldwide waste diversion rate. The event is a global engagement and educational initiative that is designed to encourage Team Members at all Las Vegas Sands’ properties throughout the US and Asia to return “clean plates” after eating meals in Team Member Dining Rooms.

The event is being conducted in parallel with each property’s action plan efforts to reduce food waste and raise Team Member awareness about food waste and efficient resource use. During the challenge, the total number of clean plates and participation rate will be tracked by each property. Any plate that has edible food waste on it will be excluded from the count. All Team Members who return a clean plate will be entered into a drawing to receive prizes.

The sustainability teams at each property will consult and collaborate with their respective property chefs in order to encourage a “zero-waste” meal service, helping the company cut food waste. Any leftover food following the meal service will be donated or fed into onsite food digester machines that will turn the food into grey water which can be safely discharged, as opposed to being sent to the landfill.

Las Vegas Sands is working to align its Sands ECO360 global sustainability strategy with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of seventeen aspirational “Global Goals” with 169 targets between them. The objectives of the challenge are in alignment with Goal 12, which calls for, among other targets, a 50% reduction of per capita global food waste by 2030 at the retail and consumer levels, in addition to reducing food losses along production and supply chains.

According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, an estimated one third of food produced worldwide is wasted. Las Vegas Sands believes reducing food waste is one of the easiest personal efforts to reduce carbon emissions and make a contribution towards a better environment for the entire planet.

The Sands ECO360 Clean Plate Challenge will take place during the week of May 22nd for a minimum of three days for global alignment, with properties having the option to participate for the entire week. The result of the event, total number of clean plates, will be announced on June 5th – World Environment Day.

Stay tuned to the Sands Confidential blog and LVS social media channels for updates.