Star Pubs & Bars – the pub arm of Heineken UK – currently owns 2,700 sites across the UK and is rolling out the same commercial terms for recycling and waste collection offered to its 110 Just Add Talent managed operator pubs to leaseholders.
The three-year deal negotiated with waste management company Biffa will see cost saving achieved by increasing the amount of waste that is recycled.
The service, which has been used by Just Add Talent pubs for the past eight months, also offers guidance on waste reduction and recycling while providing data on level and type of waste produced by each pub. As a result, Star can provide appropriate bin sizes to individual pubs resulting in reduced charges.
According to research carried out by Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), wasted food costs the pub sector £357m each year – roughly 41p per meal.
Moreover, findings highlighted by Andrew Stephen, CEO of the Sustainable Restaurants Association (SRA), reveal that pubs collectively waste 173,000 tonnes of food every year – enough to fill 13,675 double-decker buses.
Good news for the environment
Star Pubs & Bars buying director Steve Dancer explained: “The agreement we’ve negotiated is in direct response to licensees’ requests for more help reducing their overheads.
“We’re able to leverage the size and scale of our business to negotiate some great deals for licensees, passing all savings direct to them.
“Not enough waste is currently correctly recycled so anything we can do to reduce landfill will be good news for licensees’ bottom line and good news for the environment.
“With our Just Add Talent pubs alone, we’ve already seen two tonnes less waste going to landfill a month, which will increase over the coming months.”
