Nearly half of UK care homes (42%) have admitted that they don’t recycle their food waste and the vast majority (70%) state that they don’t think of food waste recycling as a core priority, according to new research from Keenan Recycling.
This comes as new legislation from the Welsh Government’s Business, Public, and Third Sector Recycling Regulation and DEFRA is currently in consultation and due to come into force as soon as this October.
The new legislation is expected to mandate that any business producing over 5kg of food waste will need to separate and recycle their waste through a registered food waste carrier service, or risk potentially hefty financial penalties.
Despite the incoming laws, over a third (35%) of care homes said they have little to no understanding of the proposed food waste legislation and a further 65% said that they are unprepared for the changes.
Furthermore, care homes admitted that they do not understand the importance of recycling food waste, with 80% saying that reducing their carbon footprint is not the main reason they’d recycle food waste. Instead, a third (30%) said that the main reason for recycling their food waste would be to avoid costly fines.
However, 65% of care home businesses did say they were working to gain an understanding of the legislation so that they can implement changes at their business, which shows that the good intentions are there.
Grant Keenan, managing director at Keenan Recycling, said: “Our research found that the care sector is behind other industries when it comes to food waste recycling, which is hardly surprising considering that the sector is navigating the energy crisis, staff shortages and immense financial pressures. However, one misconception about food waste recycling is that it is expensive. In fact, recycling food waste rather than sending it to landfill can save businesses almost £7,000 per year.
“At Keenan Recycling, we have been working with the care sector in Scotland since similar legislation came into force back in 2014 and all the care homes that we work with have successfully adapted their operations to adhere with the regulations. So, the fact that businesses across the UK are already working to gain an understanding of legislation is a really positive sign and over the coming months there is a big opportunity for the sector to embrace the changes, not only to reduce carbon emissions, but to save them money, too.”
Chris Dean, procurement director at Signature Senior Lifestyle, added: “Through our ESG policies, we have always been proactive about making a difference to both our communities and the environment. Despite this, adapting our operations when new laws have come into place has, of course, been challenging. However, overall, we have found that weekly reporting of food waste by our managers has helped us to reduce the overproduction of food in the first place. This alone has reduced our food waste production by 5%, which has provided significant financial savings.”
To find out more about how the care sector is faring against other industries, download Keenan Recycling’s full ‘Facing today’s food waste crisis’ report here.
