In Pursuit of Excellence in Sustainability: Adoption of Best Practices Enables Sands to Surpass its Food Waste Reduction

One of the key priorities of the Sands ECO360 global sustainability program is reducing food waste, and Sands’ resorts have adopted a number of best practices in food management to prevent, rescue or divert food waste. By the end of the company’s 2021-2025 environmental, social and governance reporting period, Sands had surpassed its food waste reduction target of 25% with a 36% reduction.

As the United Nations marks International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste on Sept. 29, here is a look at Marina Bay Sands’ and Sands China’s accomplishments in improving food sustainability through adoption of best practices in the areas of technology, staff engagement, monitoring and infrastructure improvements.

Building a Comprehensive Food Waste Program in Singapore

In 2021, Marina Bay Sands began a multiyear journey to achieve 100% food waste segregation, in line with the Singapore government’s requirements for large food service operators and the resort’s commitment to sustainability.

Initially, Marina Bay Sands prioritized internal processes. The resort introduced quarterly waste assessments to better understand waste streams and identify areas for improvement, removed single-use disposables in the Team Member dining room, and began training Team Members to understand the importance of proper segregation and shape behavior.

Marina Bay Sands also deployed technology to improve intelligence. The addition of data-driven decision-making using AI tracking systems such as Winnow and Lumitics better informed and increased capabilities for waste assessments. The resort also trialed new treatment technology, which demonstrated that standardizing and simplifying the segregation process throughout the entire property yielded the best outcomes.

As a result of these efforts, Marina Bay Sands’ food waste diversion rate increased to nearly 40% by 2023.

Capitalizing on this momentum, the resort expanded the program’s scope to include restaurant tenants and food court operators. The sustainability team worked with businesses partners on extensive engagement and training, as well as to incorporate infrastructure enhancements and develop procedures that ensured proper food waste sorting and collection.

In 2025, Marina Bay Sands enhanced infrastructure within its own restaurants and food service operations by replacing older food digesters with five WasteMaster machines, which the resort had been testing since 2023. These machines produce a compost-like, high-calorific value residual material that is transformed into a sustainable feedstock for next-generation fuels.

Through this combination of adopting best practices in engagement, process enhancement, technology and infrastructure improvements, the resort achieved a property-wide food waste diversion rate of 74% in 2025 – well on the way to achieving its 100% goal.

Reducing Food Waste in Macao

Sands China has also made significant strides in reducing food waste with a focus on assessments and monitoring, infrastructure improvements and staff engagement.

In 2025, the sustainability team conducted comprehensive food waste audits at 35 company-owned food and beverage outlets, which pinpointed opportunities for additional food waste collection during food preparation and for service-related waste items such as poultry and fish bones, eggshells, fruit trimmings and peels.

Audits then informed infrastructure improvements, which addressed aging food waste equipment in some locations while aiming to increase diversion at all properties. For example, replacement of The Londoner Macao’s food digester boosted daily processing capacity by 1,000 kilograms and enabled oil separation. The company also upgraded digesters at The Parisian Macao and The Venetian Macao to increase food waste processing.

Rounding out these initiatives in monitoring, assessments and new equipment provided the foundation for targeted food and beverage staff training to enhance processes and ensure proper procedures.

“In hospitality, food waste can be one of the biggest sustainability concerns, but we have greatly ramped up our efforts by studying and adopting best practices, then diligently working our multifaceted plan to make significant progress over the past five years,” Katarina Tesarova, chief sustainability officer, said. “While tackling food waste will always be one of our industry’s biggest challenges, the results we achieved in the last reporting period demonstrate we are contributing positively to reducing food loss and improving food systems.”

To learn more about Sands ECO360 environmental initiatives, read Sands’ latest ESG report:  https://www.sands.com/resources/reports/.