Biffa signs up to hospitality and food service agreement

Biffa has become the first waste management operator to support the Waste & Resources Action Programme's (WRAP) hospitality and food service agreement which could save UK businesses up to £76m by the end of 2015.


The company has today announced it has joined 110 leading UK hospitality businesses such as Devere Group, Marstons, ISS, Mitie and QHotels.

WRAP hope their agreement , which was launched in June, can cut food and associated packaging waste by 5%, the equivalent of approximately 100 million meals and reduce CO2 emissions by 234,000 tonnes.

Biffa says it will work with its customers and the sector as a whole to achieve these savings. It notes that if 25% of the sector signed up, it could save up to £76 million by the end of 2015, and reduce its CO2 impact by 570,000 tonnes.

Biffa’s Julia Turnbull who will be leading the work with customers to support this initiative said: “The strength of the agreement is that it brings the whole chain together.

“By bringing the chain together to identify the solutions and deliver change further and faster; we can use our industry knowledge to help make this happen and help our customers deliver their commitments to the agreement.

“We plan to actively participate within the working groups, using our knowledge and understanding of waste management to find the right solutions.”

WRAP will work across the sector to try and promote best practices and behaviour change by providing businesses with support through online tools, workshops, working groups and expert advice.

The agreement will be overseen by a steering group, which will include signatories and supporters. The group will have responsibility for providing input to voluntary agreement strategy, reviewing progress on delivery against the targets, and sharing good practice.

WRAP chief executive officer Liz Goodwin said: “One of the big challenges the hospitality and food service sector currently faces, as identified by WRAP’s research, is tackling the vast amount of food and packaging waste it produces and currently disposes of to landfill each year.

“The joint agreement between WRAP, all four UK governments and industry will tackle this issue, and by working together we can reduce the environmental impact from waste produced by the hospitality and food service sector, whilst reaping the financial benefits.”

Conor McGlone

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