Working towards a more sustainable future
Carluccio's have joined the Sustainable Restaurant Association
Carluccio's are a member of the Sustainable Restaurant Association
Helping London to become the first ever sustainable fish city
Carluccio's joined the Sustainable Restaurant Association in May of last year as a founding member. By making changes to the way we behave as a business, we are aiming to improve both the social and environmental impact of our operations. We know this is just the start of a long journey for us, but we're proud of the small steps we've taken so far, and we'd like to share those achievements with you.
Reducing the tonnage sent to landfill
Over the last year as a group we have recycled 78.3% of our waste. That means around 3,400 fewer tonnes of waste to landfill, which is equivalent to 1,000 fully loaded double decker buses. If we parked those double decker buses end to end, they'd all stretch from our Covent Garden caffé the way to our Richmond caffé - over 9 miles! We won't achieve zero to landfill any time soon, because we don't always have control over how waste is managed, particularly where our branches are in shopping centres, but we're on our way.
We have also concluded an agreement with Convert2Green for all of our waste cooking oil to be converted to bio fuel. We aim to make a carbon saving of 92.7 tonnes in the first year by using this service.
Sustainable fish sourcing
In close consultation with the Marine our Conservation Society (MCS) and our fish supplier, we have removed fish from menu which the MCS rates as 5, and concluded an agreement with our seafood supplier that focuses on fish rated 1-3 for the future. As an example this means no more swordfish, and whitebait has been replaced with Sprattus Sprattus, which has been approved by the MCS.
For more information on the MCS rating scheme, visit their website at www.fishonline.org. We have also signed up to the Sustainable Fish City pledge that is aiming for London to become the first even sustainable fish city, aiming to make significant progress in time for the 2012 Olympics.
A long journey - but we are determined to get there
Sustainable policies can be a big challenge for a business like ours. Apart from anything else, we wouldn't be authentically Italian if we didn't source a lot of our products from Italy, but we will look at all the areas where we can improve without compromising who we are.
For more information on the SRA, visit their website at www.thesra.org. To contact us with any questions regarding sustainability, e-mail us at theoffice@carluccios.com
Cycle to work scheme
In April 2011 we are launching our own Cycle to Work scheme to encourage all salaried staff to get on their bikes. We've been undertaking a survey of staff to find out what puts them off cycling and what would encourage them to do so, and staff who take the plunge will benefit from a discounted bike scheme through the Evans Ride2Work programme. Our CEO is leading by example as you can see from this picture!