About The Sustainable Kitchen
The Sustainable Kitchen was created to showcase best practice examples of consumer communication, designed to inspire, drive awareness, and facilitate behaviour change towards reducing food waste while adopting healthier dietary habits.
This project, jointly created by The Consumer Goods Forum’s (CGF) Food Waste Coalition of Action and the Collaboration for Healthier Lives Coalition of Action, features recipes and resources from retailer and manufacturer members of both Coalitions. By showcasing practical and inspiring consumer communications, the platform aims to help people turn everyday food choices into positive action for their health, their wallets, and the planet.
Whether it’s finding creative ways to use leftovers, understanding food date labels, planning meals more effectively, or discovering nutritious recipes, The Sustainable Kitchen provides simple resources that help consumers waste less and eat well.
Why it matters
If food loss and waste were a country, it would be the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases. According to the World Resources Institute (WRI), food loss and waste account for 8-10% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions. Concurrently, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that 1 in 3 people worldwide are malnourished, costing the global economy an estimated $3.5 trillion annually. Preventative measures are one of the best ways of combating the alarming rise in malnutrition-related disease. For example, the WHO cites a healthy diet and regular physical activity as ways to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes.
The way we buy, prepare, store, and consume food has a direct impact on both issues. Small changes in everyday habits can collectively make a significant difference—reducing pressure on natural resources, lowering greenhouse gas emissions, saving money, and supporting healthier lifestyles.
How the Sustainable Kitchen helps
The Sustainable Kitchen was created to inspire behaviour change through positive, practical, and accessible consumer engagement.
The platform showcases recipes and educational resources developed by CGF member companies and partners that help consumers:
- Reduce food waste at home
- Make better use of ingredients and leftovers
- Improve meal planning and food storage habits
- Understand food labels and product information
- Adopt healthier dietary habits
- Save money while making more sustainable choices
By bringing together best practice examples from across the consumer goods industry, The Sustainable Kitchen demonstrates how retailers and manufacturers can empower consumers to take action and build more sustainable food habits.
A collaborative industry effort
The Sustainable Kitchen is part of a broader commitment by CGF members to support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12.3 target of halving food waste at retail and consumer levels by 2030.
Consumer goods companies play a unique role in shaping shopping habits, food choices, and household behaviours. Through packaging, marketing, in-store communications, and digital engagement, companies have the opportunity to help consumers make informed decisions that reduce waste and improve wellbeing.
The Sustainable Kitchen serves as a shared platform for showcasing these efforts, encouraging knowledge sharing, and amplifying the impact of consumer-focused initiatives around the world.
If you would like to submit a recipe or resource for inclusion on the platform, please contact hs@theconsumergoodsforum.com.
About The Consumer Goods Forum
The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) is the only CEO-led organisation that represents both manufacturers and retailers globally. It brings together senior leaders from more than 400 retailers, manufacturers and other stakeholders across 70 countries. The CGF accelerates change through eight Coalitions of Action: forests, human rights, plastics, healthier lives, food waste, food safety, supply chains and product data. Its member companies have combined sales of EUR 4.6 trillion and directly employ nearly 10 million people, with a further 90 million related jobs estimated along the value chain. It is governed by its Board of Directors, which comprises more than 55 manufacturer and retailer CEOs.
Food Waste Coalition of Action
The Coalition of Action on Food Waste brings together 19 of the world’s largest consumer goods retailers and manufacturers with the goal of halving per capita global food loss at the retailer and consumer levels. With its explicit CEO engagement, action-oriented commitments and passion for accelerating sustainable change on a global level, the Coalition is a leader in the effort to reduce food loss in supply chains worldwide by driving action on key issues such as public reporting, full supply chain engagement, post-harvest losses and regional challenges. Together, the Coalition and its members play a powerful role in the effort to reduce waste, reducing stress on the environment, benefitting the global economy and ensuring more food makes it to stores and onto consumers’ tables in the process. For more information about the Coalition, visit www.tcgffoodwaste.com.
Collaboration for Healthier Lives Coalition of Action
The Coalition of Action on Collaboration for Healthier Lives (CHL) is about making it easier for people around the world to adopt healthier lives for themselves and their families. CHL initiatives are currently running across 9 countries and involving over 160 organisations. As a collective, members of the CGF, and their partners, are exploring, experimenting, innovating, and evolving business models to support positive change, while sharing data and knowledge at scale, cross industry. Health is not a competitive advantage; it’s a basic necessity. And it’s clear no company can solve this issue alone. Collaboration is needed at scale and across sectors if the consumer goods industry is to play the necessary role in the health and wellbeing of people. For more information about the Coalition, visit www.tcgfhealthierlives.com.
