The recession could leave a legacy of improved resource efficiency in the hotel and catering sector as UK businesses adopt an increasingly ‘thrifty’ mindset, according to a new report.

The Business Thrift Shift Report, drawn up by sustainability experts Envirowise, encompasses responses from more than 500 UK companies and reveals that almost three-quarters (73 per cent) of businesses surveyed have developed a more detailed knowledge of their spending and resource use as a result of the recession.

This includes everything from investment in raw materials, transport and energy, to staffing, equipment and professional services.

For the hotel and catering industry, reduction of water and energy use was the biggest area of cut back (75 per cent), with a large number also minimising spend on raw materials and consumables. And this ‘thrift shift’ is set to continue when the recovery comes, with 79 per cent of respondents citing a greater emphasis on energy efficiency in particular as a possible legacy of the recession.

Matthew Rowland-Jones, Envirowise hotel and catering specialist, said: “The hotel and catering sector has been facing some serious challenges as a result of the recession and this is perhaps reflected in the number of survey respondents reducing staff costs during this period (59 per cent). However, it is also clear that for many companies this period of economic difficulty has stimulated a more resource-conscious mindset, galvanising environmental commitments that had perhaps been lower down the business agenda.

“We know from experience that resource efficiency goes hand-in-hand with profitability, so it is encouraging to see better management of raw materials, energy and water forming an important component of the business response to recession in the UK.”

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