Companies that operate within the catering and hospitality sector, should have an effective waste management strategy put in place to ensure they’re complying with the requirements that the government has set out by the UK government.
The purpose of all businesses is to make a profit and therefore continue operating. Eager entrepreneurs will have second thoughts on the importance of implementing a waste management strategy; but this can in fact help them save money in the long run, which is vital for anyone working in the hospitality sector.
If you use a waste management company, then you can have received insightful information regarding the type of waste your business produces. Not only that, the waste management contractor you sign up with will be able to draw up a profile of your business and calculate the amount of waste your company generates — which can be beneficial in terms of waste collection timings.
Because food waste is becoming a huge epidemic in the UK, specialist in skip hire, Reconomy, take a look at how much waste that different types of businesses are producing in this industry and how much it is costing them annually, whilst looking at historical data.
Restaurants, Pubs and Hotel waste
Hotel
The hotel sector is producing a lot of food waste, with them having internal restaurants, room service and snacks available. The cost of food waste in hotels each year accounts for £318 million, which also includes labour, food procurement and waste management costs. However, this is broken down to £4,000 per tonne.
The biggest cost of waste is coming from unavoidable food waste, which is about 35%. This is followed by potatoes, which is at 20%, and fruit and vegetables accounting for a total of 15%.
The average cost of unavoidable food per meal served is £0.52. Considering that 8% of all meals are eaten out in the UK — equivalent to 611 million meals — this is a huge amount to pay.
Figures show that hotels produce 289,700 of waste each year, with 79,000 of that is coming from food waste.
Restaurants
One of the key focuses for restaurants across the country is waste, which costs the sector £682 million annually. Although this price includes food procurement, labour, utilities and waste management costs — this can still accumulate for £3,500 for each tonne.
Over 25% of the waste restaurants produces is unavoidable however, around 20% comes from potatoes and 16% comes from fruit and veg. The smallest amount of food waste from restaurants is generated by whole servings and dairy products.
There various financial implications that a business fan face when it comes to food waste. The average cost of avoidable food waste to a restaurant is £0.97 per meal. This is something that restaurants must have a focus on, as they are responsible for 9% of the meals served in Britain annually — equivalent to 704 million meals.
A total of 915,400 tonnes of waste is produced by this sector each year and 199,100 of it comes from food being wasted.
Pubs
Pubs seem to face a constant battle with the amount of waste they produce, it costing the sector £357 million every year. Similar to restaurants, this price includes costs of labour, food procurement and waste management costs but can still equate to £2,100 per tonne.
Britain’s consumption of food waste is mostly unavoidable food waste, which is about 25%. Similar to restaurants, potatoes were the second largest contributor to food waste in pubs with over 20%, and fruit and veg over 15%.
On average, food waste will cost each pub around £8,000 each year, with the cost of avoidable food waste working out at around £0.41 per meal. Out of 871 million meals, UK pubs are responsible for serving 11% of all meals eaten — equating to around 871 million meals.
Pubs overall generate 873,000 tonnes of waste on an annual basis and 173,000 tonnes of it is food waste.
Calculating the waste your business produces
There a few different methods in which you can use to calculate the amount of waste your business is producing before getting a waste management organisation involved. Start by distributing your waste into different sections and this will allow you to have a visual insight into the types of waste you’re producing.
You can use three different bins to collect the appropriate data on food preparation, spoilage and leftovers that come in from your customers plates. Use the data you have collected and multiply this figure by the amount it costs per tonne and this will tell you how much it is costing your business each year.
The majority of food waste comes from:
- Food preparation – 45%.
- Spoilage – 21%.
- Customer plates – 34%.
Companies within the hospitality who are looking to reduce the amount of waste it generates, can use a few different methods to achieve this. if their menu sizes are too large that they may find that they’re buying a lot of ingredients which could go to waste if no one orders certain meals. In order to combat this, they should monitor the type of food being ordered in the restaurant and it would give them knowledge on what dishes to remove from the menu.
It may be possible that the potions they’re providing are too big also and therefore reducing them in size would lead to less food being left from customers. It could also be a good idea to buy long-lasting ingredients that are vital in the kitchen and can be used across different dishes, such as spices; it’s only important to buy fresh food only as needed.
They could also donate waste to homeless shelters or local farms – where unused food can be fed to the animals.
The Government’s Position on Business Waste
With the UK having a goal to become a country that produces zero waste — Prime Minister Theresa May has recently pledged to eliminate plastic waste by 2042 with a goal to safeguard the environment. For those in hospitality, this will mean there will be a greater scope on how we reduce, reuse and recycle and highlight that we only throw away as a last resort.
With a greater focus on waste, catering and hospitality, businesses must have an appropriate way to store waste correctly before it leaves the premises. Once stored, you must produce a waste transfer note for each load that is planned to be removed from your premises. It’s your duty to ensure that your waste carrier is registered with the appropriate authorities to dispose waste, and if they aren’t you must not use them.
Try calculating how much waste your catering business is producing — then witness rapid results when you make the appropriate changes.
