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Head Chef Jane Mack and Events Manager Shelley Oman recently visited a Compost heap with a difference to launch our new environmental initiative.

In partnership with Paper Round and Country Style Group, etc.venues are creating new beginnings from the food waste from our London venues. To add to our many other environmental commitments we now have an exciting new composting scheme to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.

Food waste in the UK is a massive issue with up to a fifth of the food we buy going straight in the bin. As well as wasting money and time, it also has a huge environmental impact, wasting the valuable carbon and water that has gone into growing, processing, transporting, storing and preparing it before it reaches your plate.

As a responsible venue company, our team of chefs are careful to cater accordingly, avoiding wastage. Some food waste however is unavoidable - vegetable peelings and trimmings, food scraps and coffee grounds for example.

So what are we doing about it already?

  • Clients from Hatton and Bonhill can take home old coffee grounds to reuse as nutrient rich, super compost on their own gardens.
  • With delegates enjoying the healthy seasonal food we provide, very little food gets left on our plates.
  • Every 120 litre food bin we fill with food waste that is collected from our venues, 25p goes towards the award winning food charity FareShare. The food network provides meals for the homeless who provide over 6.7 million meals each day.

What about the food waste?

Our food waste is processed at the Country Style Group’s state of the art composting facility where it transforms from waste into peat free sustainable compost - an essential ingredient for farmers across the South East. Here’s how it works;

  • At the site 50% of food waste and 50% of garden waste are combined with a small amount of paper to initiate the composting process.
  • It is transported to a shed where it is left for 7 days and heated to 70 degrees to kill all harmful bacteria within the mix.
  • Then this is transferred to the in-vessel composting bunkers where the material is left to be matured at a temperature of 70 degrees for approximately 6-8 weeks.
  • After being screened, the product is then put through a shredding machine to refine the compost ready for distribution to farm land
  • All resulting in a rich in nutrient, peat free sustainable compost

Fun Facts - did you know?

  • 45000 tonnes of food waste goes to the composting site in Sittingbourne per year.
  • 2000 tonnes of sustainable compost is produce for agriculture per week from the Sittingbourne site.
  • They charge farmers only £1 per tonne for the compost produced.
  • The liquid that is collected from the food waste is used on the land.
  • Nutrients found in the compost are phosphate, potash, sulphur, magnesium, nitrogen

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