Greene King has become the first pub company in the UK to achieve the Carbon Trust’s Zero Waste to Landfill Standard.
It has achieved this by diverting all its waste from landfill across all waste streams generated by its 1,700 managed pubs – from food waste to kitchen equipment.
The announcement comes on Stop Food Waste Day and after Greene King signed up to Wrap’s Food Waste Reduction Roadmap and Defra’s Step up to the Plate pledge, committing to reducing its food waste by 50% by 2030.
Nick Mackenzie, CEO at Greene King, said: “On this Stop Food Waste Day, we’re really pleased to announce that we have achieved our goal of achieving zero waste to landfill across our managed pubs.
“We care about the environment the impact we have on it. 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.”
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, such as 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, 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.
As a result of these efforts, Greene King has calculated that there has been a 42% reduction in the number of general waste bins across its entire pub estate over five years.
The company has stated its commitment to annually auditing and reviewing internal processes to ensure continuous improvement and maintain the highest standards and innovation in tackling waste.
Hugh Jones, managing director, business services, the Carbon Trust, commented: “The work undertaken by Greene King to achieve the Zero Waste to Landfill Standard sets a benchmark for the hospitality industry.”
Greene King was also awarded Sustainable Pub Company of the Year at the 2020 Publican Awards.
