City eco-firm set to match businesses with recyclers

Published on 23/07/2012 12:00

FOOD and drink businesses in the Capital are to get a helping hand with their rubbish thanks to a unique web service.

Polwarth-based eco-firm Vegware has set up a site which matches any business with its ideal food waste recycling partner – for free.

Bosses at Vegware, which also produces the UK’s only range of fully compostable food packaging, hailed the site as a national first and said they expected it to provide a boost to local recycling rates by driving down the amount of waste companies send to landfill.

And they said Vegware could create jobs in the Capital’s burgeoning green economy as companies across the UK sign up for its service, called Food Waste Network.

Project manager Lucy Frankel said: “We are acting as an interface between food businesses and the food waste 
recycling sector.

“There’s a real boom in food waste recycling now because the government has been increasing landfill tax, and the tipping point was recently reached when it became marginally more expensive to
send waste to landfill than
recycle it.”

Joe Frankel, Vegware founder and managing director, and Lucy’s older brother, said: “The idea has never been for us just to be a packaging company.

“We want to provide a whole programme of services – it doesn’t finish when the food box hits the canteen.”