CASE STUDIES / office

London office waste audit reveals £1m in avoidable costs

Challenge

A large London office with 2,000 staff and extensive on-site catering was losing significant costs to waste — but had no visibility into the scale.

Food procurement was being managed without insight into how much was wasted before it left the kitchen. General waste and disposal costs were climbing with no clear understanding of what was actually going to landfill.

Without that visibility, the client had no way to quantify the financial case for change to senior stakeholders or prioritise where to start.

What we did

We conducted a detailed materials audit across the waste streams, with particular focus on food — estimating waste tonnage and cross-referencing it against procurement data and disposal costs.

This gave us a complete picture of the financial leaks: upstream (procurement and spoilage), mid-stream (compliance and regulatory exposure), and downstream (collection and disposal).

From there, we mapped practical procurement changes, better segregation at source in catering areas, and regulatory compliance gaps that were quietly building cost exposure.

The results

£1m can be avoided with focused waste reduction

Our analysis found that £1.63m had been lost over five years across three cost categories: upstream procurement, regulatory exposure and downstream disposal.

With a focused approach to 40% waste reduction, £1m of that loss can be avoided:

  • £800k in food cost avoidance — by reducing procurement waste through better forecasting and catering practices

  • £62k in regulatory exposure mitigation — by correctly categorising and reporting waste streams

  • £143k in disposal cost avoidance — by diverting recyclable materials away from general waste

Want results like this for your organisation?

Book a Waste Open Day and see what's really in your waste.

Book a Waste Open Day
Send us a message

More case studies

See all case studies