JD Wetherspoons Are Going Green

• May. 9 by Kimberley Gammon (1)

Across the UK JD Wetherspoons owns a whopping total of over 680 pubs, bars and hotels. Can you even begin to imagine how much waste the company produces as a whole?

However, since 2008 the company has started making various moves to help reduce the size of its colossal carbon footprint. Starting with its delivery trucks which make around 2,000 deliveries a week to pubs and bars across the UK.

They have started running their company delivery trucks on Bio Diesel which originates from the cooking oil previously used to cook food in the company pubs. An impressive 95 of these more environmentally friendly delivery vehicles have been successfully put on the road after joining forces with DHL Exel Supply Chain and Bio Diesel Energy Company Agent.

But it doesn’t stop there because Wetherspoons are currently installing a glass crusher at their main distribution depot in Daventry. Glass from all the company pubs and bars will be returned here and then crushed onsite and recycled as road aggregate.

Victoria Jayne Hollick, 22, is a Team leader at the Elizabeth of York Wetherspoons pub in Mosley, Birmingham. She stated “I think it’s brilliant that so much effort is being put into recycling! Only a quarter of the company’s pubs actually recycle glass and cardboard onsite so the glass crush is a great idea!”

The company has also taken up the ‘Tote-Box’ scheme, which entails food such as meat or vegetables to be directly placed into plastic containers. On delivery the full containers are exchanged for empty ones which are then taken away, cleaned and reused. This enables Wetherspoons to drastically cut back on the amount of plastic and cardboard packaging used on the food.