Minimising Waste for Hospitality

Consumer intelligence

Consumers have environmental issues very much ‘front of mind’. They are highly engaged and interested in whether the products they buy are ecologically sound.

All businesses now need to demonstrate that they have sustainability policies, for instance in sourcing locally, reducing waste and minimising their carbon footprint. There are many organisations which are helping businesses become environmentally friendly, such as The Sustainable Restaurant Association and Hospitality UK.

According to a recent DEFRA report, in 2016 the UK generated 41.1 million tonnes of commercial waste, more than 5% of which was glass.

The CGA reports that 54% of consumers expect to see environmentally friendly packaging in the places they visit to eat and drink. (CGA, 2019)

A way forward

One way for the hospitality industry to reduce waste is to focus on the number of bottles used. Typically, large numbers of bottles are carried to the waste bin each week. Commercial waste management also comes with a cost.

Here is a potential scenario:

A case of 24 tonic bottles contains close to 4kg glass per case. ​ A bar using just eight cases per week is generating over 30kg of empty glass in tonic water bottles alone. ​ Over a year, that is perhaps 1.5Te of empty glass bottles. ​

One way of reducing this might be to replace the bottles of tonic water with tonic concentrate - a premium, high class tonic that customers would be very happy with.

One bottle of 500ml Jeffrey’s Tonic concentrate saves at least 20 bottles of tonic water. From the above example, that 30kg per week would be reduced to about 2kg per week.

Whether for mixers or for soft drinks, using tonic concentrates and adult cordials (such as Jeffrey’s) reduces the use of single serve bottles and significantly helps reduce waste - a message businesses can shout about!

Oh, and there’s also some very helpful fridge space-saving.