Sustainable catering saves money

© geschmacksRaum®, #96593362, 2019, source: Fotolia.com

Information

Impacts:
Sustainability Waste
Sector:
Accommodation and food service activities
Investment cost:
High cost
Cost:
High cost
Size of company:
Small (less than 50)
Advancement in applying resource efficiency measures:
Beginner

The big sustainable swap

  • Sustainable solutions introduced by major catering services company
  • The move away from single-use cups leads to big savings and environmental gains

Sodexo provides catering services to a large IT company based in Cork, Ireland which employs around 2 000 people. Every year, around 1.2 million paper cups were being used and then sent to landfill. Altogether, it cost about € 120 000 a year. 

To reduce this cost and prevent this waste stream from ending up in landfill, Sodexo decided to introduce reusable cups instead of the single-use ones as part of its drive to become more sustainable through increased recycling and reduced waste.

Key impact

Sodexo invested about € 9 000 on buying thermal mugs, which were given to all staff free of charge. Employees were responsible for washing and taking care of these mugs themselves.

The initiative was well-received by staff who found that coffee stayed hot for longer. The move also proved to be less expensive than landfilling and incineration, which benefited the company and environment.

EPA Green Business, 2016. 'Greening your business...How much can you save?', A simple change can make very big savings, page 10 https://greenbusiness.ie/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Green-Business-Booklet-Web.pdf

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