The Last Straw: New hospitality collective’s zero-waste ambitions

Hospitality is an extremely wasteful industry. According to Juliane Caillouette Noble, MD of the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA), this is because the sector operates on a linear economy model, where goods are used then thrown away. The aim of her organisation is a more ‘circular’ future, which means redesigning supply chains and rethinking the lifecycle of products so resources are reused for as long as possible. In a circular economy, recycling is a last resort, especially with the amount of ‘recycling’ that goes to landfill. Attendees of the launch learned that circularity is intimately connected to so-called zero-waste solutions (defined as diverting at least 90% of waste from landfill by reducing and reusing resources) as resources are reused, lowering business waste.