The green agenda has hardly been out of the news recently. Climate change is grabbing the front pages as never before, and the public increasingly want to know what the businesses they deal with are doing to protect the environment. The hospitality sector needs to respond to this challenge.

There are three core environmental concerns - energy, waste and water - and waste is the subject of this week's issue of the magazine.

Action to reduce, reuse and recycle waste is sometimes considered a lower business priority than energy or water conservation, perhaps because it is a relatively small cost compared with other utilities. However, there are several reasons why you may want to think carefully about how you deal with your waste.

• Waste and recycling issues have moved up the public's agenda over recent months.
• There has been a significant increase in legislation concerning waste recently, with the introduction of new rules on packaging, disposal of electrical equipment, disposal of food waste, and changes in the definition of hazardous waste.
• Waste disposal costs are rising, as the landfill tax increases each year.

Introducing a waste minimisation and recycling programme can help you deal with each of these issues.

• A clearly visible waste minimisation programme makes great PR. It shows your staff, guests and the wider community that the business has a firm commitment to reducing its environmental impact.
• It can also help you avoid fines for not complying with regulations - and these can cost tens of thousands of pounds.
• It can help reduce costs by 25% or more.

WRAP (the Waste and Resources Action Programme) works in partnership with businesses and the general public to reduce waste, to use more recycled material, and to recycle more things more often. This helps to minimise landfill, reduce carbon emissions and improve our environment.

We are already working in partnership with the hospitality sector, and we would welcome the opportunity to help more companies in the sector to reduce, reuse and recycle their waste, demonstrating corporate social responsibility and saving money at the same time.

I hope that you find this issue interesting, and that it helps you to improve the management of waste in your own business.

Jennie Price
Chief executive, WRAP

Read WRAP's top 10 tactics for waste and recycling here >>

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