When he’s not managing utilities data or working on food waste reduction projects, you’ll likely find Paul L., Sustainability Associate – North America, in the woods foraging for wild mushrooms, gardening, or casting a line fly fishing. His passion for sustainability stems not only from his background in food science but also from a childhood shaped by creative, resourceful parents.
His dad, a gardener and winemaker, introduced him to foraging and taught him to appreciate the natural world. His mom, an artist and teacher, inspired a mindset of reuse and reinvention through her sculptures crafted from everyday packaging like cereal boxes.
In honor of Earth Month, we sat down with Paul to learn more about his journey, the work he does for the HelloFresh sustainability team, and how he’s helping us shape a more efficient, responsible future for food.
Paul L., Sustainability Associate – North America
HelloFresh: Can you tell us a bit about your professional journey? What led you to your current position on the sustainability team at HelloFresh?
Paul L: My background is in food science, and I’ve worked in the food industry since 2015. I joined the Green Chef Colorado’s Quality Assurance team in early 2019 [Green Chef is a HelloFresh brand]. After 4 years, I was presented with an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up and joined the Sustainability team in 2023. I was thrilled to be able to work on projects that reduce food waste, divert surplus food to those that need it most, and work on emissions reductions.
HF: What’s your day-to-day like at HelloFresh? What do you and the team work to accomplish?
PL: My day-to-day includes managing our utilities data (electricity, natural gas, water, and waste) across all of our North American sites, helping to improve our food waste and food donation programs, as well as working on projects that reduce our carbon footprint while improving our customer’s experience.
HF: How does HelloFresh approach sustainability?
PL: HelloFresh takes a holistic approach to sustainability. Not only are we extremely data-driven internally when it comes to creating baselines, tracking, and reducing our energy usage, but we also recognize our power in this industry. By implementing robust sustainable sourcing and human rights policies, we are encouraging our suppliers and partners to evaluate how we can all dig a little deeper to enact positive change.
HF: How does this impact operations within the company’s distribution centers?
PL: By nature, sustainability is focused on efficiency. Whenever we can make our purchasing decisions, waste streams, or donation and recycling processes more efficient, we all win. The distribution center (DC) employees get a more streamlined work experience (which includes throwing out less food waste), our local communities get more donated food, and more of our inedible food waste goes to compost or other organic recycling methods.
HF: Can you share an example (or two!) of an exciting project you and the team have worked on?
PL: Late last year, we created a partnership with a food donation broker to create a process to donate our surplus cooked food from our Factor kitchens [Factor is another brand owned by HelloFresh]. This has historically been a challenging waste stream to donate, as most soup kitchens and facilities that are able to handle perishable food are usually too small to handle the volume we provide them. While this is still an ongoing effort, we are diverting an additional ~50,000 lbs of surplus food per month with this process!
We are also working on some exciting projects that address packaging circularity, reducing the amount of single-use plastic packaging where possible.
Paul and the HelloFresh team taking a sustainability walk in nature.
HF: Do you have any advice for those looking to pursue a role within sustainability?
PL: I would suggest seeing if you can collaborate on a sustainability project from your current team! Sustainability is reliant on our partnerships across the HelloFresh team network, and we couldn’t do what we do without impressive collaboration. There are always opportunities to partner with Sustainability on various initiatives, and it’s a good way to get your feet wet, so to speak.
HF: What does Earth Month mean to you personally?
PL: For me, Earth Month is a reminder. It serves as a reset and a time for reflection on how we can make a lasting impact over the course of time. I love that we celebrate Earth Month at HelloFresh, pushing the conversation beyond just one day or month of action, into a more permanent mindset.
HF: Do you have any suggestions or tips for people looking to implement sustainability efforts at home?
PL: Start small! Composting kitchen scraps is a great place to start, especially if your municipality has a residential program. Gardening is also a great way to implement some sustainability at home, and there are a surprising number of fruits and vegetables that you can grow in containers if you are limited on space. Don’t try to do too much all at once, and focus on the changes that you can commit to long-term.
As Earth Month comes to a close, we’re reminded that meaningful change requires long-term commitment. Paul’s advice to start small and stay consistent highlights the impact of our everyday choices. Whether he’s adding leftovers to a HelloFresh flatbread recipe to reduce food waste, developing large-scale donation programs that divert thousands of pounds of surplus food, or leading a team foraging walk in search of edible mushrooms and plants (he recently hosted one in Boulder!) Paul’s work—and his lifestyle—show us that sustainability starts with intention.
Learn more about our sustainability efforts at HelloFresh here and check out the stories below.
