Food Waste And Recycling Management

Within the hospitality and food service sector, packaging and avoidable food waste is one of the largest contributors to landfill. Through improved recycling management, you can improve your business’ carbon footprint. How Much Food Do We Waste? According to the latest figures from WRAP (Waste & Recycling Action Programme), every year in the UK the hospitality and food service (HaFS) sector wastes approximately 2.87 million tonnes of food and drink waste as a result of the supply of food stuffs. Of those 2.87 million tonnes, 46% is recycling, sent to Anaerobic Digestion (AD) or composted. In addition to food and packaging waste, a further 0.66 million tonnes of ‘other’ waste is produced including, kitchen towels, disposable cups and newspapers. It is estimated that 75% of food waste is avoidable, totalling 0.68 million tonnes annually. If avoidable food waste was properly managed and prevented, this would avoid 2.7 million tonnes of CO2 being produced every year. The key to making environmental changes within this sector is to analyse to complete business supply chain. To ensure that the whole lifecycle of a product is considered, hospitality and food service companies, the manufacturers and suppliers will need to improve this waste and recycling management. Packaging technologists, designers and manufacturers could improve on packaging waste through a sustainable biodegradable product, and suppliers and food services companies should look at reducing and preventing avoidable food waste. Only a quarter of food waste is unavoidable including fruit and vegetable peelings. Improving Recycling Management Within The Hospitality and Food Service Sector From 2005 – 2010 WRAP introduced the Courtauld Commitment 1, a voluntary agreement to help tackle packaging and food waste. A collaborative approach between retailers, householders and local authorities, it looked at ways of reducing food waste, products and associated packaging. A powerful vehicle for change, the Courthauld Commitment 1 has resulted in a substantial reduction in packaging and food waste. In Sept 2010 Phase 1 showed that 670,000 tonnes of food waste and 520,000 tonnes of packaging were avoided in the UK between 2005 and 2009 . In the Courtauld Commitment 2, a total of 1.7 million tonnes of waste has been prevented, representing a reduction of 4.8 million tonnes of CO2eq. Woking closely with 53 signatories including major retailers and the UK’s grocery supermarkets. • The carbon impact of grocery packaging was reduced by 10% • Traditional grocery product and packing waste was reduced by 7.4%, decreasing by 217,000 tonnes per year. • Total household food waste was reduced by 3.7% and avoidable food waste by 5.3%. This has saved consumer an estimated £700 million and local authorities £20 million in 2012. Improving Your Recycling Management To further progress on the improvements the Courthauld Commitment has made since 2005, it is important to implement an effective recycling management plan. Within the UK mixed recycling collections are becoming more and more frequent, making it easier for your business to achieve its waste targets. As the recycling industry develops new processing infrastructures, mixed plastic and glass collections will begin to evolve, further improving on the zero waste targets. Using a tried and tested system, Recycling Services will be able to help you achieve the highest possible recycling rates with the possibility of zero to landfill. Regardless of whether you are a national chain or independent retailer, Recycling Services will have a retail waste management solution for you. For collections of large or small volumes of waste, zero to landfill targets and innovative solutions, call Recycling Services now.

For more information go to www.recycling-services.co.uk, call 0845 337 3422 or email servicedesk@coryenvironment.co.uk.

http://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/Handy%20facts%20and%20figures_0.pdf http://www.wrap.org.uk/content/courtauld-commitment-1

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