Now’s the time for food waste to check out of the hospitality sector

Hospitality is big business in the UK, with the industry worth almost £41bn to our economy, according to the British Hospitality Association. But, with that impressive market position comes a supersized food waste problem. Here, Philip Simpson, commercial director at ReFood, explores the benefits of sustainable waste management, discussing best practice from across the industry and suggesting what more can be done to curb food waste output.

As one of Britain’s most thriving sectors, the hospitality industry is also a primary contributor to the UK’s food waste stream. In fact, recent insight from WRAP outlines that the sector generates more than 920,000 tonnes of food waste per year. Of this, nearly 75% is said to be avoidable.

Successfully tackling this volume of waste would not only save an estimated £3bn per year for the sector, it could also help prevent a considerable volume of greenhouse gas from entering the atmosphere. It’s clear that the need for sustainable food waste management has never been greater and, with 54% of waste still sent to landfill, now is the time to act.

The most important step for hoteliers looking to curb their food waste output is to understand why they generate so much in the first place. The most commonly reported causes of food waste include over-ordering, excessive portion sizes and meal garnishes.

Furthermore, a recent study by WRAP found that the sector is dominated by a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Indeed, 73% of such businesses in the UK employ less than 10 people, with only 5% employing 50 or more. This suggests that food waste is generated in relatively small volumes, and, as such, many sites elect for easy-to-use general waste collection services, rather than separating food waste at source.

Food waste recycling may be viewed as expensive and time consuming, especially if the business has a small workforce. Some hoteliers may also be reluctant to have bins in the kitchen – due to the perceived smell and hygiene associations.

However, there are some very encouraging signs from across the industry that hoteliers are beginning to take a proactive approach to waste management. Indeed, some of Britain’s leading hotel chains have recently announced initiatives to curb their food waste.

For example, luxury four-star hotel group QHotels has eliminated food waste across its national portfolio, thanks to a sustainable business initiative run in partnership with ReFood. The programme sees food waste generated from food preparation and plate scrapings collected from the chain’s 26 hotels nationwide, before being converted into renewable energy at ReFood’s state-of-the-art anaerobic digestion processing facilities in Widnes and Doncaster. The resulting power, an estimated 720,000 KWh every year, is exported to the National Grid and used to power homes and businesses nationwide.

A similar scheme has been in place for several years at The Savoy Hotel in London. Following a refurbishment in 2010, the hotel set ambitious targets to become one of London’s most sustainable venues. As part of this initiative, it developed a series of ambitious targets to minimise food waste.

To meet these goals, The Savoy embraced the separate food waste collection services provided by ReFood. Since the start of this partnership, The Savoy has achieved a food waste recycling rate of more than 90% and reduced its weekly waste disposal costs by £200. Just a year after the hotel started work with ReFood, it had sent enough food waste for use in anaerobic digestion (AD) to generate 216 MWh of electricity – enough to light 35% of its guest suites for eight hours a day and prevent more than 200 tonnes of harmful greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere.

In light of this success, The Savoy has won a number of prestigious industry awards, including a Sustainable Restaurant Association award for best food waste strategy and the Considerate Hotelier’s Green Team of the Year.

So, what can the sector learn? As outlined above, there are some great examples of best practice from across the industry. While these have primarily been put in place by some of Britain’s most prestigious hotel chains, it’s important for smaller hoteliers to follow this example. Indeed, aside from the obvious sustainable and economic benefits, research suggests that customers actively choose to visit establishments that take sustainability seriously. In fact, a recent survey published by the Sustainable Restaurant Association revealed that 83% of respondents believe that an establishment’s ethical and sustainable criteria is a deciding factor in their choice of dining destination.

The industry is taking great strides towards improving its food waste management, but there’s still more to be done. I’d urge hotel businesses of all sizes to take note of what industry leaders such as The Savoy and QHotels are doing. Indeed, these success stories show that there’s a significant opportunity for hotel businesses of all sizes to reap huge sustainable and economic benefits. By setting themselves clear sustainability goals, such as zero waste to landfill, hoteliers are able create real opportunities to tackle food waste.