Whitbread toasts recycling win

Premier Inn owner, Whitbread Hotels and Restaurants (WHR), is the toast of the town following its win in the Veolia Environmental Services Recycling Awards for its performance diverting waste from landfill. In 2012 WHR diverted 93 per cent of all operational waste from its UK hotels and restaurants from landfill.

As part of its corporate responsibility programme, ‘Good Together’, WHR has the target of sending zero waste to landfill by 2017. In achieving a 93% diversion, WHR is well on track.

Chris George, Head of Energy and Environment at Whitbread, said: “Whitbread’s sustainability programme is one of the most ambitious in the hospitality industry and we are committed to cutting waste, energy and water right across the business. We are delivering on this commitment and, with good progress to date, we are now setting ourselves even more challenging green targets. Our action in this area is not only good for the environment but it is good for our shareholders and customers too as it helps us to save money and run our business more efficiently.”

As well as achieving zero waste to landfill Whitbread has the target of reducing its carbon dioxide emissions by 25% by 2017 as well as achieving a relative 20% reduction in water consumption in Whitbread Hotels and Restaurant portfolio against a 2009 baseline by 2020.

WHR has implemented a number of important green initiatives to make this achievement possible including diverting the majority of waste, including that from Premier Inn guest bedrooms, from general waste to mixed recycling and the training of Premier Inn housekeeping staff to increase recycling.