Gather & Gather has won a prestigious award for its work on the Sky Ocean Rescue Campaign at this year’s waste2zero awards, which recognise excellence in the prevention of waste in the foodservice and hospitality industry.
The company was given the Best Waste Prevention Project Award (Non-Food) during a ceremony at the In and Out club in London.
The gong recognised Gather & Gather’s rapid and successful project for Sky Ocean Rescue.
The Sky Ocean Rescue Café is a key part of Sky’s commitment to eliminate all single-use plastic from its office. The café was launched within just two weeks, providing a blue-print for single-use plastic free catering across the entire company.
The high-profile location of the café has allowed Sky to showcase some of the work it is doing to remove plastic from its own operations and turn the plastic tap off.
To achieve this goal, Gather & Gather worked creatively, finding new suppliers and meeting operational challenges in the areas of buying and supply chain.
Single use coffee cups were replaced with reusable cups and crockery, coffee deliveries are now made with a refillable container and compostable takeaway products introduced. Plastic cutlery was changed for reusable stainless steel and plastic milk bottles replaced by milk dispensers saving 98% of plastic packaging. Wrapped sweets and treats were replaced by confectionary served in paper bags, along with cakes made on site, and a new range of drinks was introduced.
Beyond the Ocean Rescue Cafe, Gather & Gather achieved, other ambitious targets for waste reduction across Sky’s wider operations. Every Sky employee was issued with a reusable water bottle and coffee cup, saving 450,000 single use plastic bottles and seven millions plastic lined single-use coffee cups per year.
Gather & Gather won the same award last year for its highly successful ‘Save our Serviettes’ campaign. 'Save our Serviettes' saw the full introduction of 100% recycled napkins, as well as a like-for-like reduction in serviette waste of 6.69 million napkins over one year.
Allister Richards, Managing Director of Gather & Gather, said:
“We are delighted to be recognised again by the industry. This project for Sky was really challenging and had to be delivered in very tight timescales, but we are determined to continue to support Sky in this important work combatting one of the major ecological issues of our time. We have been at the forefront of promoting sustainability in our industry and we will continue to build on our own work banning single use plastics across our business and we encourage other contract caterers to follow our lead. “
Notes to editors
Notes to Editors
About Gather & Gather
Launched in April 2013, Gather & Gather offers restaurant, café, hospitality and event services to a range of clients across a broad spectrum of sectors including media, technology, legal, financial services and retail.
Employing 2,700 people, Gather & Gather has become one of the UK’s leading workplace catering experts, connecting customers to brilliant, on-trend food and drink, a market-leading wellness programme and an award-winning suite of technology. Gather & Gather is part of Mitie Group plc.
About Mitie
Founded in 1987, Mitie is the UK’s leading facilities management and professional services company. We offer a range of specialist services including Security, Engineering Services, Catering, Cleaning, Pest Control, Landscaping, Energy and Property Consultancy, Property Maintenance, and Custody Support Services.
Mitie employs 49,000 people across the country, looking after a large, diverse, blue-chip customer base, from banks and retailers, to hospitals, schools and government offices. We take care of our customers’ people and buildings, by delivering the basics brilliantly and by deploying advanced technology. We are pioneers in the Connected Workspace, using smart analytics to provide valuable insight and deliver efficiencies to create outstanding work environments for customers.
About Sky Ocean Rescue
Sky Ocean Rescue is the Ocean health campaign from Sky aimed at creating awareness about the impact of plastics on our ocean. In addition to raising awareness Sky has committed to transforming its own business, pledging to go single-use plastic free by 2020.
The campaign is also focused on finding solutions through its impact investment vehicle, Sky Ocean Ventures.