Pubs worst in industry for recycling
According to national waste management and recycling company Business Waste staff often fail to separate their rubbish and recycle just a third of the waste produced.
It warned businesses that as consumers become more aware of the environment and green credentials, sloppy attitudes towards waste could cost trade.
"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."
Business Waste said that bars and restaurants fail to:
- Separate 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
- Recycle: 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
- Separate food packaging, which is often left with general waste when it should go to paper and card recycling
"Many restaurants, takeaways and pubs now have council-sponsored rating schemes on display to show food cleanliness," said 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."
Unilever Food Solutions is campaiging to reduce food waste in pubs.
