Environmental Issues within the Catering Industry

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Environmental Issues within the Catering Industry
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• Looking after the environment is really important
  to help prevent global warming. The hospitality
  and catering industry has a part to play in this,
  by reducing the amount of waste it produces and
  by recycling as much as possible.

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In catering there are three Rs that relate to
looking after the environment.

• Reduce
• Reuse
• Recycle

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Reduce

• Hotels can reduce the amount of waste within the
  kitchen by
• Using products with less packaging
• Sending waste to local farmers, for animal feed
• Buying foods in bulk
• Recycling glass, tins, cardboard and paper

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Reduce

• Restaurants can reduce waste at breakfast time
  (and save money) by
• Running a buffet style breakfast (that way people
  will only take what they like and fewer members
  of staff will be needed.)
• By putting condiments such as jam in dishes
  rather providing individual ones (which cost more
  and produce more waste)

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Packaging
Packaging Advantages Disadvantages
Paper and card Easily printed Can be recycled Strong when dry lightweight Crushes easily Weak when wet Recycled paper and card cannot be used for food
Glass Easily printed Strong Reusable Recyclable Can carry liquids Brittle Easily broken
Metal Recyclable Easily printed Strong Rigid Must be coated inside or reacts with food Cannot microwave Uses valuable energy to extract from ground
Plastic and polystyrene Strong Flexible Easily printed Does not react with food Causes litter problems Limited resources Not easily recycled
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Take-away food establishments

• These in particular use a lot of packaging.
• Pizzas are sold in corrugated card boxes
• Sandwiches are often sold in clear plastic boxes
• Many Indian and Chinese foods are sold in plastic
  containers or foil containers with card lids
• Burgers are sold in polystyrene cartons

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• Food manufacturers are trying to reduce the
  amount of packaging used for food products.
  Customers are encouraged to reuse and recycle
  food packaging whenever possible

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• The hospitality and catering industry can do
  their part in helping to reduce waste produced by
  themselves and their customers. By putting signs
  around the establishment encouraging customers to
  help reduce waste they will in turn gain a good
  reputation, as they are trying to help the
  environment