Awarded: £2,000

25% of the food system’s carbon emissions are estimated to end up as wastage (Our World in Data, 2019). In the UK, around 25% of waste occurs in a commercial, post-farm gate setting (WRAP, 2023).

From 1st April 2025, all businesses will be obliged to recycle food waste. However, we know that preventing food waste is sixty times more effective than recycling for reducing carbon emissions (FEW-ULL project).

Bristol Food Network will run an event for Bristol’s hospitality businesses to share knowledge and good practice on how to reduce food waste. This will provide up-to-date insight on the barriers that businesses face and what influences their behaviour on food waste, within the context of impending new national legislation.

Key findings

• Influencing staff, customer and supplier behaviour is a challenge. Particularly where services such as catering are outsourced to a third party.
• Costs of taking action to reduce food waste can be seen as prohibitive, especially for SMEs
• Waste infrastructure and services may not be able to provide what is needed

Recommendations for further research and activity

• Expand local composting services
• Creating a ‘getting started’ guide for SMEs
• More guidance on measuring, implementing targets and monitoring