Restaurants, bars and night clubs are the worst in the industrial and service sectors for recycling their waste, it has emerged. For all the progress made by members of organisations such as the Sustainable Restaurant Association, it seems that many operators have a long way to go – but should beware publicity alerting their customers to their bad practices.
At least 30% of all restaurant waste incorrectly sorted
According to one national waste management and recycling company, staff often fail to separate their rubbish at all, meaning that some businesses only manage to recycle about a third of their waste.
As customers become more aware of environmental issues and demand that companies prove that they can act “green”, sloppy attitudes towards their waste could end up losing them money, the BusinessWaste.co.uk company says.
“It’s no real mystery why this sector is the worst at recycling,” said BusinessWaste.co.uk’s Commercial Director Mark Hall, “A drive for lower staff costs means that corners are often cut, and that means pubs, clubs and restaurants tend to send the majority of their refuse for general waste.”
“Day in, day out our operators see bins full of unsorted rubbish from food and drink establishments that could quite easily be recycled. Instead it’s heading for landfill, and that’s not good.”
“At least 30% of all restaurant waste is incorrectly sorted”
The major failures
BusinessWaste.co.uk says that many bars and restaurants fail to do the following:
- No separation of tins and cans: with the rise of energy drinks for revellers, this means that some nightclubs only manage to recycle around 30% of their waste.
- Barely adequate attempts at recycling: most pubs will separate bottles from general waste at best, and there are still unacceptably high number of businesses that don’t even bother to do that.
- No separation of food packaging, which is often left with general waste when it should go to paper and card recycling.
Customers will avoid businesses who don’t recycle
As customers become more environmentally aware, Business Waste believes and hopes that patrons may start avoiding businesses that don’t have an effective green policy.
“Many restaurants, takeaways and pubs now have council-sponsored rating schemes on display to show food cleanliness,” said Mr Hall, “Perhaps it’s time to introduce ‘Scores on the Doors’ to show how good a business is at recycling and energy saving.”
“That will certainly buck up the ideas of a few businesses when their lack of recycling starts to hit their bottom line.”
For more information click here
