Excess food waste costs hospitality industry £2.5b a year, says new WRAP report

Food waste costs the hospitality industry £2.5b a year and opportunities to save money and help the environment are being missed, according to a new report by the Waste & Resource Action Programme (WRAP).

Reducing waste and recycling it more effectively could save businesses money and help them become more sustainable and environmentally friendly, it's claimed.
Managing director of the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) Mark Linehan said: "Reducing food waste makes sense environmentally, socially and economically. The SRA recognises that there are significant opportunities across the whole sector to reduce costs and improve profit margins by tackling food waste head on."

He added that customers also see improved waste strategies as a positive, and that the report points out several key changes business can make. "Our most recent consumer research showed that food waste was the most important sustainability issue for diners when eating out," he said.

The results come amid many growing initiatives to try and reduce food waste, including the SRA's campaigns Too Good To Waste and its London Mayor-backed FoodSave scheme.

There has also been a push from recyclers ReFood and BioRegional to reduce landfill; while Thomasina Miers and Tristram Stuart's Pig Idea campaign is today running a Pig Feast event, aiming to feed 5,000 people in London's Trafalgar Square using pigs fed through legal waste recycling pig feed methods.

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