Pub chain JD Wetherspoon has won the High Street Recycling Champion award at the annual Awards for Excellence in Recycling and Waste Management run by letsrecycle.com.
JD Wetherspoon received the prestigious national award for the development and implementation of a full retail-recycling plan in partnership with leading waste management firm Cory Environmental. A recycling initiative has been launched across the network of 670 JD Wetherspoon pubs nationwide, which has resulted in 3,000 tonnes of cardboard, 1,600 tonnes of used cooking oil and 550 tonnes of paper, plastic and cans being recycled each year. The recyclables are segregated at the pubs and then reverse-hauled back to the chain’s 175,000 square foot national distribution centre (NDC) in Daventry, run by DHL, to be bulked up in a recycling operation supervised by Cory Environmental. The recovered cooking oil is reprocessed into biodiesel, reducing the country’s dependence on fossil fuels.
Paul Harbottle, Chief Operating Officer at JD Wetherspoon, said: “With will and determination and by working with the right partner, we have shown how we can balance being an environmentally responsible company with meeting economic business goals. I am thrilled that our efforts have now led to us being named High Street Recycling Champion of the Year.”
Malcolm Ward, Chief Executive Officer, Cory Environmental, said: “We have been working closely with JD Wetherspoon to develop and implement this extensive recycling plan and I’m delighted that our work has been recognised with this prestigious award.”
