Greene King has become the first pub company in the UK to achieve the Carbon Trust's Zero Waste to Landfill Standard after diverting all of its 1,700 managed pubs' waste from landfill.
The company also revealed that there has been a 42% reduction in the number of general waste bins across its entire pub estate over five years, and that it would cut its food waste by 50% by 2030.
“The work undertaken by Greene King to achieve the Zero Waste to Landfill Standard sets a benchmark for the hospitality industry,“ said Carbon Trust managing director Hugh Jones.
The achievement comes after Greene King partnered with waste management company SWRnewstar in 2013 and distributor Kuehne + Nagel in 2012, and made the commitment to create a waste recycling solution that could adapt, be flexible and grow.
The aim of the partnership was to create a joint recycling model that was sustainable, displayed best practice and stimulated change in the industry by 2020.
Since making the commitment in April 2016, Greene King has introduced a number of initiatives across its managed pubs: expanding its waste recycling backhaul scheme, investing in infrastructure – such as balers at depot and coloured recycling bins to correctly segregate the various waste streams for onwards recycling, and investing in its delivery fleet to ensure it could both cope and grow its recycling scheme via its supply chain.
The final piece of the jigsaw was the creation of eLearning modules, posters and literature to continue to educate the teams on the importance of recycling and how to achieve this.
Greene King said that it is committed to annually auditing and reviewing internal processes to ensure continuous improvement and maintain the highest standards and innovation in tackling waste.
Nick Mackenzie, CEO at Greene King, said: “Waste is a real issue for the hospitality industry so, as a Leader, we are extremely proud to be the first pub company in the UK to achieve the Carbon Trust Zero Waste to Landfill Standard.
“Although our pubs are currently closed due to the Covid 19 crisis, we look forward when we can open our doors again and continue to look at how we can operate more sustainably to keep making a significant impact to the national effort to reduce waste.“
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