Towards zero food waste

‘Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle – that’s our three-R approach to our food concept Norway’s Coastal Kitchen’, explains our Culinary Director, Øistein Nilsen.

‘First, our chefs work with smaller portion sizes to avoid excess leftovers – that’s Reduce. Then, we reuse leftovers instead of discarding them, and now completing the cycle, we’re converting food waste into fertiliser, recycling the food to grow new vegetables for our menus.’

As you sail The Coastal Express, leftover food from your meals on the ship is collected and stored on board. When we reach the port of Stamsund, we place the food waste in a specially designed compost reactor.

Millions of microbes in the composter feast on the leftover food, turning it into useful fertiliser in a single 24-hour period.

This new soil then goes to nearby Myklevik farm, where owners Åshild and Gisle grow herbs and veggies the old-fashioned way. This fresh food comes back to our ships to be cooked for you, starting the cycle again.

You might not see all this happening behind the scenes, but it's there. And if leaving food behind bothers you, now you can feel better about it!

Myklevik farm is just one of our suppliers in our network. We plan to grow this idea elsewhere in Norway, sharing our experience in similar projects that keep food and resources in a good cycle.

Our hope is that simple, natural methods like recycling food will inspire more to head towards zero food waste. This will help us care for the Norwegian coast even more.