Pretty much all businesses with a physical address/storefront need a waste management service. But this is especially true for organisations in industries such as hospitality. Restaurant owners, for example, will know all too well about the sheer amount of volume and variety of waste their business produces on a weekly basis.
But what you may not know is that many food and drink businesses do not actually make the most of their waste service options and that there are opportunities for them to not only save money but also benefit the environment too.
However, spotting such opportunities can be quite difficult which is why we have written this quick guide outlining how to go about making the most out of your waste management service as a business owner.
Identifying your waste
The first step you can make to maximise what you get out of our waste service is to conduct a waste audit. This process will help you determine how much waste, and what types of waste your restaurant produces. It will also reveal how quickly you produce each type of waste.
This information is incredibly valuable as it can assist you in deciding which waste services would be most useful for your business.
We will not be going into detail on how to conduct a waste audit, but if you need to know more information on how to do so you can read our handy guide here.
Getting multiple waste type collections
Following your waste audit, you should have a better understanding of what type of waste your restaurant is producing. It is likely, that due to the nature of your business you are regularly throwing away a variety of materials each week.
However, if you are not getting dedicated waste stream collections for each category of waste you are producing you are certainly not making the most out of your waste management service.
Unfortunately, it is still the case for a lot of businesses to rely purely on their general waste or dry recycling bins to store all of their waste – despite its category. If you’re a restaurant that only has a general and recycling waste collection service, and you are not separating out your food waste, for instance, you are seriously missing out.
Having a dedicated bin and service for food waste is perhaps the best way to ensure that you’re getting the most your of your waste management service. This is because not only will you significantly benefit the planet (since we can make biofuel from food waste) but you will also save a fortune by reducing how much waste you send to landfill.
Sending waste to landfill costs a lot of money and the UK government is only making it more expensive – but for a good reason! The government is eager to deter businesses from sending waste to landfill because it can be incredibly damaging to the environment which is exactly why they increase landfill tax each year for businesses. You can read more about how food waste can save you money and landfill tax here.
Storing and looking after your bins
Another way you can make the most out of your waste management service as a restaurant is to minimise the chances of missed collections.
Missed collections can prove to be very costly for a variety of businesses but for restaurants in particular it can be even more severe. This is due to food waste decomposing when not emptied from bins. This decomposing food will not only produce a foul stench but may also become dangerous to humans and, therefore, your customers and employees. As such you may be fined by local councils.
Now, of course, missed collections are not always the business owners fault. However, there are occasions where businesses can do more to ensure that their bins are successfully emptied by their waste collector every time.
Some of the core reasons restaurant bins are not collected are that they are either overweight, spilling over, contaminated (mixed waste types), not accessible, damaged, or a combination of these things. Due to the huge downsides to missed collections, as a business owner, it is worth you spending time trying to mitigate the chances of your bins being in any of the conditions we just listed.
And one of the best ways to mitigate those chances is to educate your employees…
Educating employees
As discussed earlier, there are times where if your business is not handling its waste correctly, you will not be getting the most out of your waste management service. If your bins are not being collected because they’re not in the right state then this is something you should look to fix. But as a business owner, that is very difficult to do on your own which is why educating your employees and getting them on board is so important.
You and your team need to know how to identify certain waste types, understand which bin each type of waste needs to go into, know not to contaminate or mix your waste, how to keep the bins clean, know which day to put which bins out, and how to store your bins correctly (allowing for curbside access for your collector on collection day).
To ensure that your employees know all of this information we recommend that you make it part of your staff enrollment training for new employees and as a booster session for current staff. Furthermore, to make it easier for everyone you can have signs, clear labels for bins, and general reminders for ‘correct waste practices’ in your workplace.
Ultimately, what’s important is that your employees understand the importance of good waste practice and are willing to work as a team to ensure that your bins are collected as frequently as possible.
What next?
If you think that you might not currently be getting the most out of your waste management service or are in need of a waste collector, then look no further than us here at CheaperWaste.
We have helped thousands of UK restaurants maximise what they get from their waste service and are determined to help your business next. Fill out the quote form below for a quick and easy free quote or to just get some friendly advice from our expert team.
