Christmas waste solutions for retail and hospitality businesses

Did you know that UK businesses produce around 30% more waste at Christmas than any other time of year? Without a clear plan in place, you could quickly find your bins overflowing with additional packaging, food waste, seasonal products, and back-of-house materials, which can lead to issues with compliance and dramatically increase your waste disposal costs.

Today, we’re sharing our Christmas waste solutions to help you stay in control of your excess festive materials and keep your operations running smoothly this season.

1) Plan ahead with a business waste audit

The run-up to Christmas brings a significant spike in waste volumes for retail and hospitality businesses. Extra stock deliveries, increased customer footfall, seasonal menus, and promotional activity all contribute to an increase in cardboard, plastic, food, and general waste. 

The most effective way to stay in control of your festive waste is to conduct a thorough waste audit. It provides you with a clear snapshot of what types of waste you’re disposing of, where it’s coming from, and how it’s being handled. This allows you to see where inefficiencies lie and ensure that you’ve got the right services in place before the Christmas rush begins.

Read our step-by-step guide to conducting a business waste audit for more information.

2) Repurpose and recycle wherever possible

Festive trading brings an unavoidable increase in packaging waste. Cardboard, plastic wrapping, protective inserts, and display materials can all pile up quickly if you don’t manage them effectively. Here are just some of the ways you can streamline your recycling efforts this Christmas:

• Repurpose your cardboard waste for internal storage, makeshift shelving, or protective padding for stock movement.
• Reuse any clean packaging for portioning, separating ingredients, or creating temporary holding areas during busy service periods.
• Donate any reusable seasonal decor, refurbish it for next year, or partner with charities and community groups who can repurpose your display materials.
• Switch to reusable or recyclable display solutions wherever possible to cut down on single-use promotional waste.

Check out our blog on how to deal with excess cardboard after Christmas for more tips on managing your festive packaging.

3) Cut down on your food waste

If you’re running a restaurant, cafe, hotel, or pub, then food waste will be one of your biggest challenges at Christmas. With all the larger bookings and extended menu offerings to deal with, it can be difficult to predict how many people you’ll need to serve, which could lead to over-ordering and spoiled ingredients. To combat this, you could:

• Introduce portion controls to reduce plate waste.
• Encourage pre-orders for festive menus to help forecast demand.
• Improve your stock rotation to minimise spoilage, especially for fresh ingredients.
• Track which menu items are popular to avoid over-preparing dishes that usually see lower demand.

If surplus food is unavoidable, you could donate any unused items to food banks or partner with local charities to prevent edible waste from going to landfill. 

4) Segregate your bins and organise additional festive collections

Clear bin segregation becomes crucial when waste volumes are at their highest. Make sure you have colour-coded or clearly labelled bins on-site for cardboard, plastics, glass, food, and general waste. We recommend holding regular training sessions to ensure that every member of your team knows how to separate waste correctly. 

You’ll also need to factor in extra collections. Having overflowing bins can cause issues with compliance and odours, as well as leaving a negative impression on your customers. Work with a waste provider that can temporarily increase their waste collections to match your seasonal demands, and consider additional containers like skips or balers if you expect to produce lots of cardboard waste.

Stay in control of your Christmas waste with McCarthy Marland

Need help with your hospitality or retail waste management during the busiest trading period of the year? McCarthy Marland provides a wide range of Christmas waste solutions that are specifically tailored to the needs of your business. 

We offer wheelie bins, skips, and RoRo containers in a variety of sizes, as well as static and portable compaction systems for businesses that produce a lot of cardboard waste. We’ll organise all our collections around your schedule, ensuring minimal disruption to your operations, and we can also support with extra collections during the festive rush. Whether you’re dealing with excess cardboard, food waste, or general waste, our services will help take the strain off your staff and keep your site clean and operational.

Get in touch to discover how our Christmas waste solutions can help you stay in control of your festive waste.

FAQs

How can a waste audit help my business prepare for Christmas?

A waste audit identifies your main waste streams, highlights any inefficiencies, and pinpoints where segregation or recycling improvements can be made. That way, you can ensure you have the right bins, services, and collection schedule in place before the busy season begins.

What are the best ways to reduce food waste over the festive period?

To reduce food waste over the festive period, consider implementing tighter portion control, improving your stock rotation, and using a pre-order system for festive menus. Partner with food donation schemes to ensure that any unavoidable waste is handled sustainably.

Do I need extra bins or waste collections during Christmas?

Lots of businesses benefit from extra bins or increased collection schedules at Christmas to avoid overflows and maintain compliance. McCarthy Marland can assess your requirements and provide scalable services that are specifically tailored to your needs.