The team at The George in Castleton, a traditional British pub in the Peak District with an award-winning focus on sustainability, has chosen the Ecobot food waste dryer to process food waste on-site for composting rather than paying for it to be collected and transported for disposal.

The George is a 17th century inn at the heart of the beautiful village of Castleton in Derbyshire’s Peak District that has been run by John and Vicky Judson and the team since November 2018. In addition to a small Bed & Breakfast accommodation offering, the pub offers a wide and varied choice of locally sourced and freshly prepared traditional pub food which is cooked by a team of fully trained chefs. 

“Making our business as sustainable as possible is very important to us,” said managing director, John Judson. “Our local customers are very supportive of our projects, including bringing their spare home grown produce to swap for our homemade products or beer tokens, developing a kitchen garden to grow vegetables for our menu, installing solar panels to heat the polytunnel and greenhouses, switching to low-energy sensor lights and smart plugs to save energy, and using renewable energy to power a kiln that upcycles used wine bottles into serving dishes.”

The pub received Pubaid’s Community Sustainability Hero award earlier in the year and received a Sustainability Champion Award from the British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) in recognition of those who have demonstrated a commitment to running a sustainable business in the hospitality sector. The George has also been shortlisted in the 'Sustainable Pub of The Year' category of The Great British Pub Awards 2024.

“Our entire team is focused on minimising and recycling food waste wherever possible, but a busy kitchen inevitably produces a quantity of unavoidable prep waste,” said John. “We currently have four large wheelie bins for food waste, which are collected and driven 30 miles to a central location for segregation before being transported to a waste to energy plant in The Netherlands. With the Ecobot, we can process food waste on-site and use the nutrient-rich output as a soil conditioner or for composting, which is a much more environmentally friendly solution and will significantly reduce our waste management costs.”

Following a site visit and an assessment of food waste processes, the Ecobot proposed by Tumblebug will shred and dry food waste on-site, reducing 50Kg of messy food waste to approximately 5 to 8Kg of soil conditioner that can be composted and used in the kitchen garden. 

The Ecobot EB50 processes up to 50Kg of food waste every day, and will help The George to:

• Reduce the environmental impact of food waste collection and treatment.
• Reduce the odours, pathogens, pests and handling inconveniences of food waste.
• Reduce the cost of food waste collection.
• Demonstrate compliance with forthcoming food waste legislation.

“We’re excited to be at the forefront of Tumblebug’s strategy where on-site processing is the first step to a truly circular economy, and our food waste will be used to grow the next season’s crop,” said John. “We were impressed by Tumblebug’s approach and are confident the Ecobot is a sound financial investment. Investing in an Ecobot for sustainable, on-site food waste processing is the latest step on our sustainability journey.”

Preparing for the forthcoming 2021 Environment Act was also a consideration in this decision. To comply with the Act and avoid penalties, organisations will have to segregate food waste and dispose of it separately, with on-site food waste drying identified as one of the more sustainable solutions.

“It’s a pleasure to work with such well-informed business leaders, who recognise the importance of sustainability and innovation in the hospitality sector,” said Andrew Rowney, Head of Sales & Marketing at Tumblebug. “In addition to training the catering team, we’re keen to explore how this innovative solution can encourage behaviour change throughout the sector.”