Savoy hotel turns food into electricity

5th May 2009, 10:02am

The Savoy Hotel in London has announced that it will use energy generated from food waste to power the lights in 10% of the guest rooms.

Managed and operated by Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, The Savoy says it believes it is the first five-star London hotel to recycle its waste in such a way.

The landmark hotel in the West End has teamed up with the PDM Group as part of the hotel's carbon reduction strategy.

While The Savoy is closed for a £100 million restoration, PDM is recycling all food preparation and plate scrapings from the hotel's restaurant, Simpson's-in-the-Strand, which remains open.

In the kitchen, food waste is now separated into designated bins supplied by PDM.

These are collected on a weekly basis, which will increase to daily once The Savoy reopens, and taken to PDM's facility in Silvertown, London, where it's bulked up with other commercial, catering waste from across the Capital and transported to the company's organic biomass-to-energy renewable power plant.

Debra Patterson at The Savoy, said: "Finding a sustainable solution for our waste is an important part of this process and that extends to our food waste. We were delighted to find that PDM offered a solution that allowed us not only to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill, but to make a significant improvement to The Savoy's overall carbon footprint by displacing fossil fuels – a completely sustainable solution."

The new scheme has been well received by The Savoy's catering team, as Amanda Godfrey, Simpson's-in-the-Strand assistant manager, explains: "The recycling process was simple to set up and the whole team were excited about making a difference in this way."

Philip Simpson, commercial director at PDM, adds: "For the hospitality sector, recycling food waste is the next important win, not only helping to improve environmental credentials but also saving costs when it comes to waste disposal."

This new initiative also supports the aspirations of Fairmont's own 'Green Partnership Programme' which focuses on key areas such as waste reduction, energy management, water conservation and innovative community outreach programmes.

Related Articles:

• 28 Jan 2010 - The Savoy Hotel relaunch delayed due to infrastructure problems
• 13 Nov 2009 - The Savoy partners with Jewellery chain Boodles
• 25 Aug 2009 - £100m green deal to slash SME energy bills
• 04 Jun 2009 - Savoy to open in Winter 2009
• 22 Jul 2008 - The five-star Savoy goes green
• 15 Oct 2007 - BIDDING FOR SAVOY HISTORY
• 03 Oct 2007 - The Savoy to showcase items from past
• 12 Sep 2007 - Bomb scare at London's Savoy Hotel
• 15 May 2007 - Savoy to close for £100m refit

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