St Austell Brewery is marking a year of its award-winning waste initiative with a dramatic uplift in recycling and a new commitment to tackling food waste across its whole business.
Helen Sprason, area manager at St Austell Brewery, with chefs Jowan and Ben
As part of the progress made so far, 100% of food waste from its 45 managed pubs across the South West is now diverted from general waste into anaerobic digestion, or redistributed to local communities via Olio, a surplus food sharing app.
Launched in 2025, Operation Segregation set out to improve how waste is sorted, measured, and reduced across the managed pub estate.
Working in partnership with Biffa, the brewery introduced colour-coded bins, improved signage, and enhanced team training to make correct segregation easier across all sites. This has contributed to a 16% drop in general waste and a 49% reduction in total waste since 2023. Some pubs have also doubled their recycling rates.
“Operation Segregation is all about cutting waste at the source and ensuring valuable materials don’t end up where they shouldn’t,” said Emily Coon, sustainability manager at St Austell Brewery.
“What’s been most inspiring is how quickly our teams have leaned into the change. When people understand the impact, positive behaviours naturally follow. This isn’t a project with a finish line — it’s the foundation for long-term cultural and operational transformation.”
With segregation now embedded and confidence in the data established, St Austell Brewery is launching phase two of the project, focusing specifically on reducing food waste at source.
In November, the business completed its first food waste audit. Using 2025 as the benchmark, the company is committing to a 10% reduction in food waste in 2026 and a long-term ambition to reduce it by 50% by 2030.
Operation Segregation sits within the brewery’s wider sustainability strategy — Crafting a Brighter Future — which includes a long-term commitment to eliminate edible food waste from operations by 2040 and transition towards becoming a zero-waste business.
As Food Waste Action Week (9th-15th March) highlights the scale of avoidable food waste across the UK hospitality sector, St Austell Brewery hopes its practical, data-led approach shows how targeted interventions can drive meaningful environmental change.
