Hotels launch scheme to turn waste into compost

11:49am Wednesday 19th March 2008

Hotels in Brighton and Hove are launching an ambitious bid to become the greenest in the country.

Brighton and Hove Hotels Association yesterday revealed plans for its members to recycle and compost food waste.

In the long term it hopes the city's hotel industry will become totally waste neutral. The scheme has been devised with the guidance of city-based Magpie waste recycling.

Under the plans a partnership would be drawn up between hotels and farmers in the surrounding countryside.

Food waste from hotels would be composted using the latest technology and sent to the countryside as soil improver, which in turn would help grow the vegetables supplied back to the hotels.

If the ambitious plan succeeds it could boost tourism in Brighton and Hove.

Mark Jones, chairman of Brighton and Hove Hotels Association, is urging all hotels to sign up with Magpie.

He said: "We are the first city to look at this and we hope that it could provide an example for other areas.

"We are coming up with a solution to waste and trying to move to zero waste and do what everyone is talking about.

"All the food will be taken to compost, and the compost could be used to grow vegetables for the hotels."

The initiative, which is still in its early stages, was launched yesterday at the Grand Hotel in Brighton.

Under the plans, hotels would divert cash currently set aside for waste disposal into paying for the latest equipment.

As part of the project, the latest technologies from companies including Susteco and GOC Technologies are being tested by Brighton University.

The equipment would cost hundreds of thousands of pounds but could be set up at one of the city's larger hotels or on an industrial estate.

Rob Jones-Mantle, of Magpie, said a hotel signed up to all of Magpie's schemes would already be recycling 70 per cent of its waste.

He added: "Food waste is governed by strict laws and at the moment it is sent to landfill where it breaks down and produces methane, which is harmful to the environment.

"Hotels pay millions collectively for waste disposal, but if that cash is diverted into something like this we can make a huge difference.

"It would build a strong bond between the city and the surrounding countryside, and would also be boost for tourism if we can boast that our hotels are waste neutral."

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