Over the past decade, membership of The Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) has grown from just 50 to well over 7,000. That reflects the growing appetite for sustainable food from consumers across the UK. It is no longer enough to talk the talk, consumers are better informed than ever about the environmental impacts of what they eat, so you really need to be walking the walk. We’ll take a look at five key elements that will help you develop a clear and credible sustainability strategy, that will inspire both your customers and employees and could also help reduce your costs. There is a lot of support available and it may be easier than you think, you may already be doing some of the things we outline here and, often, small things can add up to make a big difference.
In their latest update, the UK’s Waste and Resources Action Plan (WRAP) has reported a 12% reduction in emissions associated with UK food and drink consumption since 2015¹. That’s great progress but, if we are going to achieve their target of a 50% reduction by 2030, there is still a lot to do. No one knows your business like you do but, hopefully, these five key areas for improvement will help you to make a real difference and inspire you to think of other key ways you can help tackle the climate emergency.
1 Taking care of the planet means taking care of your supply chain
When you take transport, production and land use change into account, global food chains contribute about 30% of total human-produced greenhouse gas emissions². That adds up to around 16bn tonnes per year².
There is a lot you can do to address this. Sourcing local, seasonal and foraged foods are all popular with customers and allow you to reuse packaging - reducing the need for plastics. But transportation is only one part of the overall carbon impact of food and drink.
Procuring foods from sustainable sources is vital and, at Olleco, our oil buying team goes to great lengths to ensure that the fresh oils we supply are produced responsibly.
2 Waste not, want not
WRAP estimates that the UK’s hospitality and food service businesses are still throwing away £3billion worth of food every year³. As part of their Guardians of Grub campaign.
WRAP has produced a really useful suite of downloadable, free-to-use materials to help you and your team reduce the amount of food waste you are producing. Producing some food waste is unavoidable and, to prevent it ending up in landfill where it will emit methane - the greenhouse gas responsible for 25% of human-related climate change⁴ - it is vital that you segregate food waste from your general waste so it can be disposed of more sustainably. Olleco food waste collections ensure that your food waste is converted into renewable biogas and fertiliser, which delivers the dual benefits of reducing the UK’s dependence on fossil fuels and replacing energy intensive artificial fertilisers.
3 Tackling the heat in your kitchen could also take some heat off the planet
A survey by UKHospitality has revealed that energy price hikes averaging 238% mean that energy costs now equate to one fifth of the average hospitality business’s turnover⁵. So reducing energy is as important to the survival of your business as it is for our planet.
Turning down deep fat fryers during downtimes is just one of many ways you could save energy and, what’s more, it will help prolong the life of your cooking oils.
Some restaurants and hospitality businesses are investing in renewable energy sources such as biomass boilers and solar panels to reduce their energy use.
4 Is water all that’s running out of your taps?
Kitchens are notoriously wasteful of water and simple interventions to address this could reduce your usage by up to 50%. That won’t just reduce your fresh water bills, it will also reduce your waste water costs which are charged as a proportion of your mains water usage.
It will also contribute to the UK’s food security. The food industry uses 69% of the UK’s water supply⁶ and changes to our climate have seen increasing levels of water scarcity especially in those areas of Britain that produce most of our food.
Keeping oils and fats from going down the sink also delivers environmental and economic benefits. They cause 70% of sewage blockages⁷ which is why you will face financial penalties if you are found to be responsible. But, by having your
used cooking oil collected, you ensure that they can be used to make biofuels. This helps reduce the UK’s reliance on fossil fuels and could earn you a rebate against the cost of your fresh cooking oil deliveries.
5 Going paperless could mean you end up paying less
Paper is a precious resource but, along with cardboard, it is estimated to account for 26% of the material in landfill⁸ and, because it is an organic material like food waste, it contributes to global methane emissions as it breaks down.
Global consumption of paper is set to double between 2005 and 2050⁸ and the world already gets through 420 billion tonnes of it every year⁸ which means we simply can’t recycle enough to feed demand.
More and more hospitality and restaurants businesses are helping to address this growing threat to our forest habitats and the climate they protect, by going paperless. The pandemic has helped familiarise customers with digital menus and email receipt systems are often welcomed by consumers - freeing them from the need to keep paper receipts. It’s also a great opportunity to build a database for email marketing.
Of course, the benefits of going paperless go well beyond the sustainability angle of using less resources. Going paperless will save you money in stationery as well as in printing costs such as toner, ink, equipment and maintenance.
We are helping our customers go paperless by providing digital billing and emailing Waste Transfer Notes. This not only saves money but also the time and hassle of having to file and maintain paper records and the expense of having to dispose of them securely.
Summary:
We hope this gives you a taste of some of the things you could be doing to become a more sustainable hospitality or restaurant business. The list is by no means exhaustive and you will find plenty of case studies where similar businesses talk about novel ways they have found to improve their sustainability.
We’re proud to be helping businesses achieve the best environmental outcomes for their used cooking oil and food waste. And by providing clear data about their waste streams, we help businesses assess and reduce the carbon impact of their operations. To find out more about how we can contribute to your journey to a more sustainable future, get in touch with one of our sales team. They’ll be happy to help.
Sources:
¹https://wrap.org.uk/resources/report/tracking-uk-food-system-greenhouse-gas-emissions-2022-update
²https://www.cips.org/supply-management/news/2022/june/food-supply-chain-emissions-seven-times-higher-than-estimates/#:~:text=Taking%20into%20account%20transport%2C%20production,emissions%2C%20or%2016bn%20tonnes%20annually
³https://wrap.org.uk/taking-action/food-drink/initiatives/guardians-grub
⁴https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/video/whats-deal-methane#:~:text=It%20is%20responsible%20for%20more,years%20after%20it%20is%20released.
⁵https://www.cateringinsight.com/energy-now-almost-one-fifth-of-turnover-for-the-average-restaurant/
⁶http://assets.wwf.org.uk/downloads/uk_import_water_risk.pdf?_ga=1.69430611.256322778.1423845398
⁷https://www.meiko-uk.co.uk/en/campaigns/footprint-water-report/
⁸https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/consumption/other-products/environmental-impact-of-paper