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A hospitality recruitment firm says the industry must do more to tackle what it calls the UK’s growing ‘food waste problem’.
Urban People has urged restaurants to follow the lead of french legislators who recently passed a law forcing supermarkets to donate surplus food to charity. The regulations aim to crack down on the estimated 600,000 tonnes of food waste generated by the hospitality sector each year.
Jo Fowle, director of Urban People, said: “The UK currently tops the EU charts when it comes to food waste and new legislation in France…has put pressure on retailers and suppliers this side of the [English] Channel to step up their efforts.
“As well as the massive cost to the environment, food waste is costing businesses a fortune – £2.5bn annually in the UK alone. Reducing food waste therefore has both an environmental and economic incentive.”
Almost 65% of food waste generated by the hospitality industry occurs at the back-of-house and a third derives from customers’ plates. The remainder of waste tends to be disposed of at the preparation stage, according to a report from the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA).
The waste equates to three double-decker buses of food for every restaurant each year.
