Nationwide Food Waste Recycling and Research Launch

Published - Wednesday, 03 February, 2010

This concern is justified: of the18 million tonnes of food waste heading for the UK’s landfill mountain, some three million tonnes are produced by catering services and restaurants (source, WRAP).

With the launch of the UK’s first nationwide commercial food waste collection and recycling service to AD in January 2010, leading national restaurant and hotel chains can get on track to zero food waste to landfill, as well as keep eco-conscious diners happy,

According to the report, ‘Eco eating: consumer attitudes to commercial food waste’, consumers believe that food waste recycling is far more effective at home than in a commercial setting. The majority of respondents, ninety-four per cent, said they try not to waste food at home.  But no doubt fuelled by programmes like the Gordon Ramsay’s ‘F Word’, the British public also have strong views about what happens to food waste when they eat out. Eighty-five per cent of people care about what goes on behind the scenes in restaurants and 69 per cent say they care about food waste. 

The research commissioned by waste management company Cawleys has received a positive response from the hospitality sector. David Clarke, Chairman of the British Hospitality Association Sustainability Committee and CEO of Best Western Hotels said:

“The BHA, as the national trade association for the hospitality industry, welcomes the findings of this report.  We recognise that as the UK population becomes more committed to recycling in the home, there is quite rightly increased consumer pressure for the commercial sector to demonstrate its commitment to recycling and carbon emissions reduction.  Therefore, the national extension of food waste recycling to AD for the commercial sector could not be timelier as far as we are concerned.”

Encouragingly, it is not just the provenance of food ingredients that concerns diners; 78 per cent think it is just as important to think about the destination of food waste.  Moreover, restaurants offering exceptional environmental, as well as food, credentials would encourage 44 per cent of diners to pay more when they eat out.

BBC Urban Chef Oliver Rowe was one of the first restaurateurs to use the food waste to AD option in his own restaurant, Konstam.  Commenting on his decision to adopt the scheme, Chef Rowe said:

“In restaurants, the focus is often on the front end of the business; the fresh food that comes in, what it looks like and what it tastes like.  We don’t usually look at the other end of the business and what happens to the food waste that is generated in a restaurant.  By tackling this important element, the food waste to AD collection service helps environmentally conscious restaurateurs get closer to achieving zero landfill.”

AD is the government’s preferred recycling route for food waste.  Cawleys pioneered the first commercial food waste collection and recycling service to AD two years ago.  The innovative service takes all the customers’ food wood waste to an AD plant owned by long-term partner BiogenGreenfinch .  During the AD process, bacteria digest the food waste, producing methane which is used to generate electricity for the National Grid.  The residue is used as an organic fertiliser.

The extension of Cawleys’ service through a national network of partners means that leading restaurant and hotel brands (as well as the smallest cafe or staff canteen) can dramatically reduce greenhouse emissions and weight of waste to landfill.  With landfill taxation (£48 per tonne from April 2010) set to rise year-on-year, canny businesses can future-proof themselves against the escalating cost by switching to green alternatives such as AD.

Oxford Brookes University has been working with WRAP and the BHA’s Sustainability Committee on the issue of waste in the hospitality sector.  Jane Carlton Smith from the University’s Centre for Environmental Studies in the Hospitality Industry (CESHI) said:

“The technology and the will are out there to make food waste to landfill a thing of the past.  What is required now is sustained investment in the infrastructure that will make this an achievable goal so that the hospitality sector, together with all other commercial and domestic food waste producers, can adopt recycling schemes which are straightforward, economical and environmentally sound.”

Kate Cawley of Cawleys believes the new national service will have a significant impact on addressing the massive environmental damage caused by food waste:

“We have to ask ourselves, why have businesses been putting food into landfill when there are technologies that can turn it into electricity and heat for our homes and workplaces?  The answer is that until now there simply hasn’t been a nationwide environmentally-responsible food waste collection and recycling solution for national restaurant and hotel chains.  Using the AD route will not only help businesses to meet carbon emission targets and contribute with confidence to initiatives like 10/10, but will also genuinely address consumer concerns