The Saving Gelato Project: Walmart Foundation Food Loss + Waste Implementation Program

Objectives

Righteous Gelato is a small-batch gelato company with factory operations based in Calgary, Canada. Their mission is to enrich people’s lives, one tiny spoonful at a time. They use honest ingredients and nothing artificial.

The purpose of the project was to prevent and reduce food loss & waste at the Righteous Gelato manufacturing facility in Calgary, Canada as part of the Walmart Foundation funded Food Loss & Waste Prevention & Implementation Program.

Project

Anthesis’ partner, Enviro-Stewards, conducted an on-site waste prevention assessment utilizing our award-winning Food Loss + Waste Toolkit at the Righteous Gelato manufacturing facility. We measured the savings achieved from our previous Food Loss + Waste assessment, and re-engaged the team on opportunities not implemented or new solutions found. We quantified three opportunities to make sure as much gelato as possible was not wasted from the production line, and able to be enjoyed.

Outputs

Opportunity 1 | 600kg/year in Fruit Savings

The Bottom-Barrel Problem

Sometimes the holding tanks filled with gelato are not properly emptied, resulting in wasted gelato at the bottom of the tank. In order to maximize the gelato quantities, the floor has been sloped and the tanks pulled and tilted forward to permit them to drain more effectively. This costs next to nothing to install and saves $6,500 of gelato a year!

Opportunity 2 | 7,750 kg/year in Milk Savings

The Milk Problem

Milk is pumped from the milk tote to the tanks in a pipe. Residual milk is often left in the pipes, and so to save ~35L of milk a day – we suggested the milk in the pipes be pushed forward with water to remove the excess milk in the line. This allows for 35 extra liters of milk a day to be turned into
gelato!

Opportunity 3 | 9,200 kg/year in Gelato Savings

The Pig Problem

Gelato is pumped through stainless steel piping from the holding tanks to the freezing unit, leaving residual gelato in the pipes. We estimated this was ~9,200 kg of gelato a year left in the pipes. We recommended a pigging system to use air and water to push out the remaining gelato – allowing it to be packaged and utilized.

Impacts

Large capital investment isn’t the only way to embed sustainability into your operations. Although Righteous Gelato didn’t install a pigging system, they maintained their sustainable agenda everywhere in their facilities that was feasible. They partnered with Second Harvest, Canada’s largest food rescue organization, to donate surplus food that would otherwise go to waste to a network of local non-profit organizations serving people in need. Righteous Gelato is now focusing their food loss and waste prevention and reduction efforts on the right priorities, and will use these recommendations to inform the design of their new facility.