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We are excited to announce that COOK has signed with Countrystyle as its waste management supplier. The contract, valued at £78K per annum includes services at COOK’s Kent-based sites and incorporates a variety of waste streams such as DMR, general and food waste.

COOK is a large scale gourmet kitchen specialising in frozen food with the homemade touch, using the same ingredients and techniques its customers would use at home. With over 300 staff preparing and distributing meals at multiple sites across Kent including Sittingbourne, Rainham and Gillingham, COOK’s meals can be found in more than 90 COOK shops around the UK, via a thriving home delivery business and a network of concessions in like-minded retailers.

The company set themselves the challenge of halving the amount of food wasted at its main sites by the end of 2020. Currently, COOK has a system in place called the OWL that captures and stores food waste from its kitchens. This food waste is collected and turned into a nutrient-rich bio-fertilizer for farming and renewable energy that is exported to the National Grid.

Technical and Sustainability Director, Richard Pike said: “COOK are pleased to be partnering with Countrystyle in our drive to reduce waste and increase recycling from our main operating sites. Their support and flexibility has been invaluable and has helped us to increase momentum and buy in from the teams as well as insuring that not only are we zero to landfill but that waste sent for recovery is also reduced and diverted to DMR wherever possible”.

Countrystyle has begun working with COOK towards its 2020 goal by ensuring that all waste produced is either recycled or recovered into energy. Key Account Manager Julie Daniel commented: “COOK is a delight to have on board. They are keen to increase their recycling and landfill avoidance rates and have taken steps in the right direction. We are closely situated to all of their sites and we are truly able to offer the local waste management solution.”

Sales Director Jamie Houston commented further: “COOK is engaging in segregating waste, reducing food wastage and producing top quality products. We hope that as COOK continues to grow, our relationship will also grow as we work together with new and innovative waste solutions and procedures.”

Continuously investing in new technology, COOK has made many environmentally conscious decisions throughout their entire processing practises. More recently the company has been working hard to reduce its use of single-use plastics, with a focus on its black plastic trays. By the end of 2019, the company will have switched all its adult meals to new trays that are made from up to 85% recycled material and are 100% recyclable.