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Environment & CSR

By Word of Mouth is a catering and event organising company based in London, England.

Our Environmental Policy is to conduct all operations in a responsible manner in order to reduce recognised hazards, respect the environment and protect the health and safety of our employees, customers and suppliers.  We strive for and achieve high standards, using our own in-house management systems to ensure best practice and consistent methods of operation as we drive the business forward.

We recognise that our operations can have an impact on the environment in a number of ways and we are committed to minimising the potentially harmful effects of such activity and to ensure that we comply with all present and future environmental legislation.

Our method for our annual goal is see a 5% decrease in energy consumption year on year in line with company turnover. This target was more than achieved for 2019.

By Word of Mouth holds BSI ISO 9001:2015 recognition and has held a BSI accreditation for over 10 years. This is an international and government recognised form of independent assessment in the delivery of quality and confirmation of the excellent procedures that we have in place.

Environmental Committee

In 2018 an environmental committee was established which is chaired by a company Director and consists of a representative from each part of the business: Office, Kitchen and Back of House.  The committee meets 4 times a year and agrees a range of actions which are communicated through posters and meeting minutes.

Our Food Philosophy

By Word of Mouth provides exquisite food using exceptional, seasonal ingredients.  We believe that we have a duty to buy ethically and responsibly with a focus on animal welfare, sustainability and limiting damage to the environment.   We are signed members to the Sustainable Fish City Pledge and the Cage Free Eggs pledge.

We have strong relationships with many small, independent suppliers who share our values and we buy British and seek named farm meats wherever possible and we are happy to source organic ingredients (when in season) on request.

Supply Chains

Whilst By Word of Mouth is committed to meeting the varying demands for regional and sustainably sourced produce, we are also working hard to minimise our impact on the environment by reducing food miles and using local suppliers where possible.

Seasonality

By Word of Mouth designs our menus based on seasonality with a focus on providing locally grown seasonal produce.  We recognise that not every product can be grown locally and there is a limited range which means consumer demand cannot always be met.  As such we have developed a strategy to source produce on a regional basis, working with our current supplier base to focus on provenance and sustainability, building long-term relationships with producers who safeguard the future of UK farming.

Fair Trade

We use Fairtrade products primarily with regards to fruit and vegetables.  Our policy is to use Fairtrade where at all possible.

Traceability

We actively pursue a policy of traceability with all our ingredients to ensure quality and where possible sustainability.

Transport

All our company vans are Euro Class 4 to ensure low emissions.  Our employees are encouraged to use public transport or cycle (we provide the cycle to work scheme) where possible and fleet cars are purchased with a focus on ensuring low emissions. We are in the process of phasing out diesel company cars for low emission or electric vehicles.  In additional our delivery strategy is based around minimising the number of deliveries, vehicles and time spent on the road.

We are encouraging our core food distributors to introduce multi-temperature vehicles, which allows ambient and chilled goods to be delivered together, rather than using a separate vehicle for each.

Energy

Duty staff are required to carry out a check list at the start and end of the day ensuring that lights, equipment and taps are turned off when not in use.   We have invested in new energy efficient equipment including boilers, commercial ovens and dryers which contributes to significantly improving our energy efficiency and in 2019 we overhauled our lighting system moving from fluorescent lighting strips to energy saving LED.

Our energy consumption is monitored on an annual basis and demonstrated below.

UTLILITY 2019 2018   Reduction KW on prior year
Electricity consumption (KW) 155,887 181,761 25,874
Gas consumption ( KWH) 82,088 93,018 10,930
Water Consumption (m3) 891 998 107
Overall Waste (kg)  37,193 62,356    25,163
Unit 26 Electricity 2019 2018
2018  – 6139 3,731 6,139 2,408
2019 – 3731
   
Unit 27 Electricity 2019  2018 2,005
  1,707 3,712

Plastic

By Word of Mouth recognises the impact of plastic on the environment and we are committed to ensuring its use only when absolutely necessary.  Areas we have identified where plastic must be used and no suitable alternative is currently available is the use of bin liners for the safe disposal of waste and health and safety flooring to provide a safe working environment for our employees and to protect the fabric of the building. This is a requirement from the majority of venues at which we operate.

We understand the impact of this on the environment and as such we advise our employees against the excessive or unnecessary use of single use plastic. We do ensure that we use strong bin liners in order to avoid “double bagging”.

When serving cocktails we advise our guests about the impact of straws on the environment.  Where straws are required we are committed to the use of either biodegradable or paper straws.

Recycling and Waste Management

By Word of Mouth utilises the services of Grundon Waste to manage the disposal of our waste products.  2019 compared to 2018 saw an overall reduction in total waste of 25,163 kilos.

By Word of Mouth is committed to reduce the landfill waste through recycling and the safe  disposal of food and oil.  As such we have processes in place to recycle the following items:

These items are separated at our CPU and on site at events and sent for recycling.