Wetherspoon is recycling champion

Wetherspoon named as the High Street Recycling Champion 2007

JD Wetherspoon has been named as the High Street Recycling Champion in the annual Letsrecycle.com Awards for Excellence in recycling and waste management.

The award is aimed at recognising a successful project or initiative which has delivered greater recycling and/or improved sustainability in waste management within the retail sector.

Wetherspoon was praised for its nationwide recycling initiative across its entire pub chain, centred on its central distribution centre in Daventry, Northamptonshire.

The scheme, a first for the UK pub sector, involves delivery lorries taking back recyclable waste from pubs, resulting in no extra road journeys.

Wetherspoon is recycling 1,600 tonnes of used cooking oil, 3,100 tonnes of cardboard, 200 tonnes of paper and 100 tonnes of plastic and aluminium a year.

It is also trialling the recycling of mixed glass which would potentially result in an additional 29,000 tonnes of mixed glass being recycled annually.

Government recycling minister Joan Ruddock MP praised Wetherspoon for its "high degree of innovation, imagination and enthusiasm".

JDW purchasing and distribution manager Mark English said: "We are delighted to have won the award and it is highlights our commitment to recycling at both pub and company level."