Infosys sets an example again and this time it is food waste management

While we are hurtling towards urbanization, heaps of waste are growing even faster, causing a serious concern for the society. Poorly managed waste has an enormous impact on health, environment, and the economy at large. It is a large source of methane, significantly increasing greenhouse gas emissions in the environment. Also, it can lead to contamination of water and air, resulting into detrimental impacts on human health. According to the World Bank, world cities generate about 1.3 billion tonnes of solid waste annually and this is expected to increase to 2.2 billion tonnes by 2025.

Food waste, specifically, has profound social and environmental implications, considering that about 795 million people in the world do not have enough to eat. In addition, rotten food generates methane which adds up to the GHG emissions in the environment. Of the one-third food produced globally for consumption every year, about 1.3 billion tonnes gets lost or wasted. As large corporates generate huge amounts of food waste, it is essential for them to ensure responsible food waste management. It is critical to manage food waste with scientific methods to minimize waste going to landfills and mitigate the related impacts on the environment and society. Some concerns exist at different levels to manage food waste effectively, including collection, storage, and treatment processes. As bins are critical for collecting segregated food waste, it’s essential to map the bin size according to the generation patterns, the location of the bin to encourage usage, and clearance of the bin on a scheduled basis. Additionally, storage of food waste is also critical for effective food waste management. As food waste is high on organic hydrocarbons & moisture content, it forms best environment for microbial growth. Hence, a dedicated area where temperature below 5°C should be maintained to make best use of these properties and also eliminate the foul odor issue. The third major concern is the treatment. While there are enough options available, mapping the end use, space availability and labor requirement are essential for opting for the best treatment system. (Source: UNEP, World Food Organization)

While there is enough awareness with respect to food security and its potential landfill gas generation, only very few companies have invested in treating their food waste on-site. However, there has been a wave to derive internal policies that mandates the change in consumption and food wastage. A prominent step has been to serve measured portion of food to employees by relating it to health benefits, influencing conscious consumption and reducing wastage. Segregation and composting are also holding an important position in many companies’ food waste management agendas. Infosys is persistent in its efforts to ensure the reuse, recycling, and responsible disposal of waste to minimize the amount of waste going to landfills. At Infosys, there have been conscious measures that have shaped the handling and treatment of food waste. In 2012, at corporate level, Infosys adopted 100% segregation and on- site food waste treatment policy. Today, Infosys has standardized the color, size and visual communication materials for food waste collection at food courts resulting in 100% segregation.


The restriction of food serving limited to food courts has reduced the mixed waste fraction and super- efficient collection of food waste. Every campus has a dedicated food waste storage room wherein appropriate cooling temperature is maintained at 5degreeC. We have piloted and installed various technology for food waste treatment. We have installed technologies such as biogas plants and organic waste converters to treat our food waste on-site. Biogas plants installed at our Mysore, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Bhubaneshwar, Pune and Trivandrum campuses
convert our food waste into biogas, which is in turn used in the food court kitchens.





We also have organic waste converters at our campuses in Trivandrum, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, and Bangalore, to convert food waste into rich manure that is further used in our campuses for landscaping. We have also employed vermicomposting in Mangalore and Pune to recycle small quantities of food waste into compost.



Our total installed biogas capacity is 9.25 Tonnes per day (TPD) having a potential of generating about 500 Kgs of LPG equivalent daily, for further use. Another 3.5 TPD of composting plants generating 1 TPD of manure every day is in place. These initiatives are enabling us to treat 100% of our food waste in-house.

In addition to this, employee engagement and awareness programs are conducted across campuses through eco clubs to sensitize employees on segregation and responsible disposal and treatment of waste. All common areas and pantries have visually appealing posters on food waste management to educate employees. Infosys is leading from the front in this area ad has set new benchmarks in the industry by piloting new technologies and ideas to ensure reduce, recycle and reuse of waste effectively. Infosys’ efforts in waste management are helping divert considerable amount of waste from landfills, leading to reduced cost of transportation, carbon emission mitigation, and also minimized environmental impacts like land degradation, air pollution, and groundwater contamination.

(The article is authored by Guruprakash Sastry, Regional Manager – Infrastructure, Infosys)

Image credits: indiatimes, infosys