How Hospitality Businesses Can Recycle More Efficiently

Rises in National Insurance Contributions (NIC), business rates and implementation of the new recycling legislation will place lots of financial pressure on the hospitality industry in 2025. Despite many venues having to reduce their employment levels or trading hours to compensate, employers in the industry still need to find the time and resources to comply with new waste segregation rules. As a result, employers need to find a more efficient way to recycle their waste.

What Types of Hospitality Waste Can Be Recycled?

• Cardboard Packaging
• Polystyrene Packaging
• Shrink-wrap
• Plastic PET Bottles
• Glass Bottles
• Glass Jars
• Aluminium Tins
• Metal Tins

It is important to ensure that all rubbish destined for recycling is free of contaminants such as food and oils.

Recycling Equipment Suitable for Hospitality Businesses

There are many different types of recycling compactors available for hire or purchase that are designed to help hospitality businesses to recycle more efficiently. When used correctly, they can reduce the number of bins you need and the effort required. Some equipment is designed to divert rubbish away from your recycling bins, others work by compressing the material itself.

Cardboard Recycling Balers 

Put simply, employees stood around squashing cardboard into bins isn’t a desirable prospect for any employer, especially if your employee costs have risen. The answer is to use a cardboard recycling baler instead which can flatten your boxes for you. These freestanding machines can be located either inside or outside your premises and can compact bulky box waste into a neat bale that are secured by banding or tapes. These bales can then be collected by a Recycler. To get the best return from your baler, you can also use it for some types of plastic packaging waste.

Polystyrene Compactors

Many ingredients are delivered to commercial kitchens in polystyrene packaging or boxes. Because this type of packaging is 100% recyclable, hospitality businesses who promote sustainability should find a responsible and efficient method to dispose of it. Using a polystyrene compactor can turn your waste into dense briquettes that in sufficient volumes, can be sold for recycling making it a worthwhile undertaking for those with lots of empty polystyrene boxes.

Plastic Bottle Compactors

Hundreds of empty plastic drinks bottles can be compacted quickly inside a plastic bottle baler. These simple waste baling machines have quickly become an essential bit of equipment for venues that have lots of bottle waste to dispose of including gyms, cafes and large workplaces. For those that pay for rubbish collection on a per-bin or per-bag basis, the savings can quickly add up.

Wheeled Bin Compactors

Installing commercial bin compacting equipment can dramatically reduce your recycling bin emptying costs. This type of recycling compactor features a powerful hydraulic pressing plate that’s lowered inside your wheeled bins to squash the waste beneath it. Compactable recycling such as polythene, cardboard and food packaging are quickly compressed 3:1 typically, freeing up space for more waste to be deposited.

Aluminium Drinks Can Compactors

Single serve canned beverages are growing in popularity with wine and water now widely available in this format. Whilst everyone is already familiar with crushing individual cans using your foot, hospitality operators are able to use a can baler to compress lots of cans at once, making the recycling of them more sustainable.

Glass Bottle Compactors

Glass bottles can be crushed into tiny pieces resulting in your premises needing fewer bottle bins. Our most efficient compactor deposits crushed bottle waste directly into your wheeled glass bin below. For smaller venues, an undercounter solution may work out to be a cheaper solution. Either way, if your bins are fully of whole bottles, crushing them at your site is likely to reduce your costs if you pay for glass collection on a per-bin basis.

How to Reduce the Cost of Recycling with QCR 

Our team of hospitality waste experts are SafeContractor accredited giving you extra confidence when you arrange a free recycling equipment trial with us. Handling your waste more efficiently can not only help to reduce your overheads but can also help to reduce the number of staff you need. As an added incentive, sustainable waste handling practices can also be used within your marketing to make you stand apart from competing hospitality businesses in the local area.