The Priory Rooms are delighted to announce all food waste is now collected by First Mile Recycling, who take it to be decomposed at a local site, becoming the recycling company’s first food waste contract in Birmingham!

The Priory Rooms place great importance on eco-conscious and sustainable business practices. Aiming to be Birmingham’s greenest meeting and conference venue they are always looking at ways to improve their efforts. The not for profit venue was recently awarded a Silver Award from their recycling contractors First Mile for an exceptional amount of paper, card and plastic being collected throughout 2013. Manager Andrew Callan was keen to set the bar higher for 2014 by aiming for a Gold Award; the main accreditation of the award being composting food waste. So Andrew set about discovering the most sustainable and practical way of achieving this!

The Priory Rooms has nine conference rooms open 6 days a week therefore large amounts of catering is regularly served.

Two years ago the venue introduced an initiative to reduce the amount of buffet food being thrown away with free biodegradable “doggy boxes” for delegates to take home leftovers. However keen to achieve a Gold Award through decomposing food waste Andrew approached First Mile about the food waste collections they run in other areas of England and why one did not run one in Birmingham.

Enthused by The Priory Rooms interest, First Mile representative George Garrett took it upon himself to make the venue their first customer in Birmingham to have food waste collections! Collections began mid-June and The Priory Rooms now sustainably dispose and recycle an incredible 70% of all waste!

Northfield Eco-centre, supported by The Priory Rooms’ profits, run community activities to encourage sustainable living including cycling lessons and forest school sessions. Manager Georgia Stokes was thrilled to hear of the venues latest eco-conscious initiative and highlighted the importance of such business practices.

“It’s fantastic to see the Priory Rooms leading the way for Birmingham businesses to reduce waste streams in their quest to become a zero black sack waste organisation. So much of what we put in black sacks can be recycled or reused, much more than the normal kerb side collections, and through this scheme the Priory Rooms are making sure the energy & water used to produce this food is not wasted. We waste about 7 million tonnes of food waste in the UK at the moment, the Priory Rooms are showing us there is another way.”

This time next year The Priory Rooms should have achieved a Gold Award for recycling and hope to inspire other businesses in the area to follow in their green footsteps. Manager Andrew Callan said

“I encourage other local businesses to have their food waste collected by First Mile! Birmingham is becoming known for its green initiatives in transport, so let’s work together to support this great work through recycling and composting more!”
To book a conference room at the eco-conscious Priory Rooms visit the website http://www.theprioryrooms.co.uk or call 0121 236 2317.

Services provided by First Mile Recycling are detailed on their website www.thefirstmile.co.uk. To take part in Northfield Eco-centres activities visit the website http://www.northfieldecocentre.org/