Melco embraces Artificial Intelligence to lead the charge against food waste in Macau
December 09 2020 - 4:38AM
Melco Resorts & Entertainment, a global leader in premium
integrated resorts, announces that it will be rolling out Winnow
Vision, an Artificial Intelligence (A.I.)-powered product to tackle
food waste across its properties. Driven by Melco’s strong focus
around environmental sustainability, an initial six-month trial has
shown excellent results in the Company’s flagship property, City of
Dreams Macau, with:
- Food waste in the employee dining
area reduced by 67%
- 3,915kg food waste saved,
equivalent to almost 17 tonnes CO2e1
Melco now plans to roll out Winnow Vision into
its own-operated buffet restaurants, adopting the A.I. system as
part of the Company’s broader sustainability strategy ‘Above &
Beyond’. Using a camera, a set of smart scales and the same type of
machine learning technology found in autonomous vehicles, Winnow
Vision learns to recognize various foods being discarded and
calculates the financial and environmental impact of such food
waste for commercial kitchens. Chefs can then adjust their food
purchasing decisions accordingly, reducing spending and tackling a
fundamental problem of overproduction.
Denise Chen, Senior Vice President and
Chief Sustainability Officer of Melco Resorts &
Entertainment, said, “Melco is dedicated to tackling one
of the industry’s biggest challenges, food waste, while inspiring
others to follow suit. We are excited about continuing our
collaboration with Winnow across our resorts to lead the charge
against food waste in Macau. The A.I. system initiative allows us
to maximize operational efficiency and data accuracy across both
front- and heart of-house food outlets, with the ability to
significantly reduce food waste as we work towards our goal of
achieving zero waste and contributing to circular economic
leadership in Asia by the year 2030.”
The F&B team at City of Dreams identified
dishes such as noodles, potatoes and rice served to employees as
key opportunities to reduce waste. Waste levels steadily reduced
over the six-month period as the team adjusted production volumes
using Winnow’s analytics. Melco is set to roll out the program to
customer facing dining areas, as well as its operations in City of
Dreams Manila in the Philippines.
Melco is also planning to work with Winnow to
measure plate waste in its employee dining areas. The project aims
to increase internal awareness on food and plate waste, which will
contribute to the Company’s existing Clean Plate Challenge efforts
since 2019.
Marc
Zornes, Winnow CEO and
Co-founder says, “We’re delighted
with the results the team at City of Dreams have seen using Winnow
Vision, with food waste cut by over 65% in just six months. This is
testament to Melco’s commitment to sustainability and innovation,
and we look forward to replicating these early successes across the
group.”
About Melco Resorts & Entertainment
Limited
The Company, with its American depositary shares
listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market (NASDAQ: MLCO), is a
developer, owner and operator of integrated resort facilities in
Asia and Europe. The Company currently operates Altira Macau
(www.altiramacau.com), an integrated resort hotel located at Taipa,
Macau and City of Dreams (www.cityofdreamsmacau.com), an integrated
urban resort located in Cotai, Macau. Its business also includes
the Mocha Clubs (www.mochaclubs.com), which comprise the largest
non-casino based operations of electronic gaming machines in Macau.
The Company also majority owns and operates Studio City
(www.studiocity-macau.com), a cinematically-themed integrated
resort in Cotai, Macau. In the Philippines, a Philippine subsidiary
of the Company currently operates and manages City of Dreams Manila
(www.cityofdreamsmanila.com), an integrated resort in the
Entertainment City complex in Manila. In Europe, the Company is
currently developing City of Dreams Mediterranean
(www.cityofdreamsmed.com.cy) in the Republic of Cyprus, which is
expected to be the largest and premier integrated destination
resort in Europe. The Company is currently operating a temporary
casino, the first authorized casino in the Republic of Cyprus, and
is licensed to operate four satellite casinos (“Cyprus Casinos”).
Upon the opening of City of Dreams Mediterranean, the Company will
continue to operate the satellite casinos while operation of the
temporary casino will cease. For more information about the
Company, please visit www.melco-resorts.com.
The Company is strongly supported by its single
largest shareholder, Melco International Development Limited, a
company listed on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong
Limited and is substantially owned and led by Mr. Lawrence Ho, who
is the Chairman, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of
the Company.
About Winnow
Winnow develops cutting-edge digital tools to
help chefs run more profitable, sustainable kitchens. Launched in a
single staff restaurant in 2013, Winnow is trusted today by
thousands of chefs in over 40 countries, where kitchens’ food waste
is consistently cut in half. Together Winnow and its partners are
saving over 36 million meals a year from the bin: the equivalent of
$40 million in food cost savings for its clients. For more
info: www.winnowsolutions.com
For media enquiries, please
contact:Chimmy LeungExecutive Director, Corporate
Communications Tel: +852 3151 3765Email:
chimmyleung@melco-resorts.com
____________________________1 CO2e calculated as 4.3kg CO2e to
1kg food waste saved (source blend of FAO and WRAP
data)
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b49a07c6-aef2-4afb-9fbd-6e139763aa9b
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