ADBA and BHA focus on hospitality food waste

ADBA PRESS RELEASE

WRAP’s Nov 2013 report into food waste in the hospitality sector valued the true cost of food waste to the hospitality industry at £2.5 billion, making efforts to reduce it well worthwhile. But even the unavoidable fraction is a valuable resource, which both the British Hospitality Association (BHA) and the Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association (ADBA) have committed to make best use of through anaerobic digestion (AD).

At the first ADBA AD & Hospitality Conference, held Friday [7 Feb] at the Royal Garden Hotel, London Charlotte Morton, Chief Executive ADBA said:

Source segregation is an important place to start for the hospitality sector. Separating the food waste portion from the general waste and seeing what is actually being thrown away helps businesses reduce waste food in the first place – by far the best option and eight times better even than AD for the environment. Once the unavoidable food waste element is separated out, the AD industry can turn this into an ultra-low carbon renewable gas and valuable biofertilisers, helping to support the UK’s energy and food security.

John Dyson, Food and Technical Affairs Adviser, BHA, said:

With food prices a significant cost for hospitality businesses, the focus for our sector is first and foremost to reduce the volume of food waste produced. But there will always be some portion that cannot be avoided – that’s why the BHA partnered with ADBA to highlight the benefits of anaerobic digestion as a treatment option for remaining unavoidable food waste. The first AD & Hospitality Conference has provided an important step in bring the two sectors more closely together.

To support ADBA to engage with the hospitality and food service sector ADBA has appointed Mike Hanson, Head of Environment and Programme Management at BaxterStorey to its Board of Directors. Mike will provide insight into the challenges faced in the hospitality  industry and help ADBA and the AD, waste management and the hospitality industries work together to help remove the barriers to getting more unavoidable food waste treated by AD and communicate effectively across these sectors.

On joining the ADBA board, Mike Hanson, said:

The catering industry must consider seriously the role of food waste management in running a business efficiently and in a manner that is sensitive to the environment.

 

I therefore welcome this opportunity to work with ADBA and the anaerobic digestion industry (AD) to help it communicate the benefits of AD for treating unavoidable food waste with the hospitality sector effectively.