Tackling food waste legislation in care homes

British care homes are currently facing immense pressure as they navigate their way through the cost-of-living crisis and soaring energy prices, both of which are forcing providers to carefully consider their outputs and where savings can be made. On top of this, rising inflation means that there is pressure to increase staff wages in an industry where there are already severe staff shortages. These circumstances are causing many to feel increasingly worried about rising costs across the board.

Rising food bills, in particular, are a huge source of concern as costs continue to soar, with prices increasing by 15 per cent from last year – the highest rate of increase for over two decades, according to the Office for National Statistics. Consequently, buying the healthy, nutritious food that residents need is becoming more challenging. Care homes and other private sector facilities are having to cut corners or dig deep into overstretched budgets to find enough funds to ensure that their residents have enough nutritious food to keep them healthy. 

With this in mind, it is hardly surprising to learn that 70 per cent of UK-based care homes do not think food waste is a core priority at their business, according to our recent research report.1 However, businesses across England and Wales will soon be faced with new legislation on how they should deal with food waste, so it is important that care homes familiarise themselves with food waste recycling sooner rather than later.