Sustainable Business

SB September 2013

Sustainable Business magazine - essential reading for sustainability professionals

Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/175311

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 8 of 35

Radar 4/8 Click here keep up-to-date with the latest news from edie.net Food Waste Hospitality sector faces double whammy on waste Bars and restaurants across the UK could be missing a trick when it comes to customer acquisition by failing to recycle their waste properly, according to recent research. In a study of 500 businesses across the UK, waste management service provider, BusinessWaste.co.uk, found that restaurants, bars and night clubs are the "worst in the industrial and service sectors" for recycling their waste. This is despite a separate study finding that food waste was one of the top three issues diners wanted restaurants to focus on. The latter report The Discerning Diner: How consumers' attitudes to eating out have become more sophisticated published by the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) found that diners not only want more transparency about how restaurants operate, but that more than half will pay more for a meal in a restaurant that is run sustainably. It's a double whammy for restaurants and bars, who, if both reports are correct, could not only charge a premium if they sharpened up their food waste act, they could also save money by correctly sorting their waste. "It's no real mystery why this sector is the worst at recycling," said BusinessWaste.co.uk commercial director Mark Hall. "A drive for lower staff costs means that corners are often cut, and that means pubs, clubs and restaurants tend to send the majority of their refuse for general waste." However, it seems some restaurateurs are getting it right, particularly in Manchester, where more than 300 restaurants and hotels have signed up to a local food waste scheme, in a bid to make Manchester's hospitality sector the greenest in the UK. Attracting some of the biggest names from the sector, restaurants such as San Carlo, Rosso and The Mark Addy, have signed up to the food waste collection service, provided by the Green Chef. As the ninth largest city in the UK, Manchester plays a significant part in the generation of seven million tonnes of food waste per annum in the UK. Launched 18 months ago, the scheme utilises a number of different treatment processes ranging from in vessel composting to anaerobic digestion, both of which ensure 100% diversion from landfill.

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Sustainable Business - SB September 2013