Hospitality businesses across the UK should be recycling surplus food, as a new report reveals the sector is set to spend an extra ?32m sending food waste to landfill this year.
“Food waste is a valuable resource and one we shouldn’t be leaving to rot in landfill sites,” said ReFood’s commercial director Phillip Simpson. “With annual rises in landfill tax, separating food waste for recycling makes sound and long-term economic, as well as environmental, sense.”
According to latest figures, the UK’s 260,000 hospitality and catering outlets produce around four million tonnes of food waste each year. But ReFood believes that, through improved planning, portioning, management, storage and preparation, almost two thirds of that waste could instead be sold and eaten.
Moreover, the firm estimates that recycling food waste via anaerobic digestion could now be up to 45% cheaper than sending it to landfill, as landfill tax increased by another ?8 per tonne on 1 April, taking the cost per tonne to ?80.
“Achieving zero food waste to landfill is a big challenge but it is an achievable one,” added Simpson. “By focusing on sustainable sourcing; measures to prevent waste, as well as how to employ best practice in dealing with the waste that is produced, the hospitality industry can avoid the considerable costs associated with landfill and we can ensure that sustainability is built into the heart of the sector for years to come.”
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Source: Hospitality industry urged to focus on recycling food waste, Edie http://www.edie.net/news/5/Hospitality-industry-urged-to-focus-on-recycling-food-waste/26196/ published Apr 28, 2014. Viewed Apr 29, 2014.