When a business says its mission is to be ‘the most impactful hospitality company in the world’ then you know it’s going to take issues like waste management seriously.
Founded in 2012, KERB is a membership organisation dedicated to growing and supporting talented, independent, owner-operated street food businesses. It currently has more than 160 fully-fledged KERB members who are passionate about serving top quality food at KERB’s food halls, pop-up lunch markets and events.
KERB’s flagship operation is London’s Seven Dials Market, a seven-day-a-week foodhall near Covent Garden, home to 20 independent traders and two bars.
Sustainability is high on the agenda and KERB is currently implementing an Impact Badge scheme for members, a self-audited assessment that includes a section on how they dispose of their waste.
The KERB team works with Grundon to maximise recycling and reduce waste, taking a proactive approach with waste audits, innovative ideas and a waste education programme that focuses on trader engagement.
This includes on-site waste awareness days and educational resources, including tailored handbooks and internal signage, to explain the importance of segregating different waste streams.
Audit results
Quarterly audits help identify where improvements can be made, and one of the big success stories followed an audit in early 2024, which revealed significant amounts of food waste was being thrown away in general waste.
Because food waste is so heavy, disposing of it as part of general waste collections both adds to costs and misses the opportunity to be more sustainable.
Since then, a concerted effort has been made to increase segregation of food waste, including providing kitchen caddies to all outlets and increasing waste education and training.
As a result, by the end of 2024, the amount of food waste segregated out from general waste more than doubled, considerably increasing the volume of food waste now sent to Anaerobic Digestion (AD) facilities for processing into energy and bio-fertiliser.
Priya Narain, KERB’s Purpose & Impact Manager, says: “The improvements to our food waste collections have been very successful. Numbers are always great as people understand them and it makes it easier to manage and measure the impact and improvements.”
Hannah Walton, Senior Project Manager at KERB, explains: “Managing waste is one of the areas where we can have the most impact. It’s a focus for us and our traders as, if they can reduce food waste, that can have a positive financial implication as well as being good for the planet.
“Grundon’s reporting enables us to gain information about what is going into the bins and then we can talk to our members and look at practical things we can do to improve.”
Hannah Walton
Senior Project Manager at KERB
The audits also revealed that further savings of c£2,500 per year could be made by segregating plastic bottles and cans from general waste. Plans are now under way to introduce simplified colour-coded bins and a dry mixed recycling service.
Waste champions
To help spread the waste management message, KERB appointed five venue champions, who provide valuable information that can help make positive changes.
One of these came after the waste audit revealed lots of fruit and herbs (such as mint) were being disposed of in general waste. The champions recognised these were mainly used as garnishes, prompting the question – do we need garnishes at all?
Facility tour
To help spread the recycling message, Grundon invited Hannah and Priya, together with some of the venue champions, for a tour of its Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) and its Energy from Waste (EfW) plant.
Priya adds: “It was a really good opportunity for the team to be together to see what happens on the journey of waste once it leaves our site.”
Grundon’s Liam Nelmes, who works with the KERB team, says: “Inviting them to our facilities really made a difference and we continue to look at new ideas to increase sustainability.
“Being able to quantify the results ensures everyone understands that as well as benefiting the planet, we are achieving cost savings too.”
Giving back
Underlining its partnership approach, Grundon recently invited a team from KERB to join a volunteering day at its charity partner, London-based food redistribution charity The Felix Project.
Priya and Hannah were among those who took part and together they managed to prepare and package 5,175 meals for delivery to those in the local community who need it most.
“Volunteering is something that KERB really encourages and, so working with a company like Grundon which also values the social impact and aligns its values with the work we do is really important to us.”
Priya Narain
Purpose and Impact Manager at KERB
Collections
Grundon provides seven-day-a-week general waste collections, ensuring zero waste to landfill by utilising its own Energy from Waste (EfW) facility where the waste generates electricity.
The food waste collections require a specialist Grundon tanker as Seven Dials Market has its own Rothenburg food waste disposal system. This macerates food waste on site, turning it into liquid, which is then pumped into the tanker ready for transporting to the AD facilities. Further collections are made for cardboard and glass.
During 2024, overall recycling rose by 13.3% up to a total of 43%.
A dry mixed recycling service for paper, card, plastic bottles and cans is due to start shortly and there are also plans to introduce new services for compostables, coffee cups and other waste streams. Additional signage, new bins and further waste awareness days are also on the agenda.