Waste Management
Reducing the amount of waste generated from restaurant operations is one of our major environmental challenges. Our waste reduction efforts take into account both restaurant level operations as well as waste at our Restaurant Support Centers (RSCs). While each of these areas of operation have different primary waste streams, our Waste Management Program enables us to increase recycling and renewable efforts and reduce solid waste volume across our system.
In our restaurants, our waste programs are focused on exploring how to both reduce and exploit our waste streams. Restaurant waste falls into several main categories: food, spent cooking oil, grease traps and packaging. We currently recycle at a majority of our U.S. restaurants, and we will expand recycling to all our stores as the recycling systems become available.
Here are just a few examples of what our brands are doing across the globe:
In Australia, KFC has been working on a Closed Loop recycling project for the past three years. This program has attracted never before seen government funding and is a world leading QSR recycling initiative. No other QSR in Australia (nor have we found elsewhere in world) is doing anything on this scale and impact. KFC has been awarded $400K from the Australian Packaging Covenant and state governments to go towards the infrastructure of the new "Split Bin" to support this initiative. In addition, 100 percent of waste oil is recycled.At Pizza Hut UK, 170 restaurants have started a cardboard recycling program which is saving 30% of the waste from going to landfills. They are also testing an initiative where no waste will go to landfill (including food waste). This team is working with a local waste contractor to separate all the waste from a test restaurant and either recycle or recover it.
Also in the UK, KFC's packaging reduction initiatives form part of KFC's wider strategy to reduce its impact on the environment. For example, the company currently recycles approximately 7,702,667 liters of used cooking oil each year, which is converted to biodiesel car fuel to power the trucks which deliver KFC's fresh produce to stores.
In our RSCs, these efforts are focused on recycling office paper, glass and plastic. To encourage RSC associates' understanding of, and commitment to this effort, we have established an internal recycling website where we answer questions, offer advice, and take suggestions from our associates on how we can do better.
