At Bethnal&Bec we’re committed to becoming a Net Zero business and we strive to make our luxury stays as sustainable as possible.
From rescuing beautiful, surplus furnishings destined for landfill, to installing our own hot composters, we want every part of our stays to be as environmentally friendly as possible.
We were absolutely horrified to discover how some of our ‘recycling’ wasn’t actually getting reused.
Our local council made some big changes which impacted how we manage our waste.
We have implemented the following processes for our recycling, hot composting systems & ReWorked.
Standard Recycling
…for all paper, cardboard, hard plastic, tins and cans.
Reworked
…for soft plastics.
This is where we ask guests to recycle all items which are not eligible for local recycling bins and local services.
It is the ideal zero waste solution which helps to avoid unnecessary landfill.
Once the box is full, it is recycled to a new packaging medium & the contents are pre-shredded.
The plastic material, once shredded, is sent to a blending area where it is combined with a mixture of polymers from ocean cleans, verge cleans, food and cosmetic wastes.
Lastly, the materials are bonded into a board which can then be placed back into use or made into a new product on site.
Hot Composting
…We have introduced Hot Composters into both our home and our self catering accommodation.
Literally ALL food waste goes in it.
Yes, that includes meat & dairy!
Hot composters do the following:
- Produces compost in just 30-90 days!
- 200 litre capacity can take at least 5kg of household waste per week
- The composter itself was designed and manufactured in the UK using 100% recyclable expanded polypropylene.
We use the compost on our vegetable garden and in the retreats veggie gardens!
In fact, we actively discourage anything being thrown away – apart from a short list of items like sanitary products – that is now the ONLY thing that goes into the commercial waste bins (and we’re researching if we can do anything with that too!)
We gently encourage our guests to take our approach to zero waste home with them.
Information is available in all the retreats as well as on our website about sustainable methods, and why we think they’re so important to support our natural environment.
We hope that they will feel inspired by the ease of these systems, and implement some in their own homes.
It’s lovely that our work has paid off already!
Many of our previous guests have messaged us telling us which initiatives they’ve liked when we’ve shared sustainability messages on our social media.
We believe this can lead to real, lasting change.
