Two years after installing Tidy Planet’s A900 Rocket Composter, The Torridon has successfully recycled around 50 tonnes of food waste. The resulting compost has been used in the resort’s two-acre kitchen gardens to grow produce for its restaurant.
“This is one key piece of our sustainability puzzle,” said Dan Rose-Bristow, owner of The Torridon and chairman of The Master Innholders.
In addition to its environmental impact, the equipment has saved the hotel roughly £12,000 in off-site waste disposal fees and cut bin collections in half. Furthermore, the need to outsource compost, which previously cost around £2,500 per year, has been eliminated.
As a member of the sustainability group NOW Force for Good Alliance, The Torridon is committed to reaching carbon neutrality. “The Rocket Composter not only gives us greater autonomy over our resources,” Rose-Bristow continued, “but also offers significant environmental and financial benefits to our business—helping to reduce our carbon footprint being key.”
The machine was installed at The Torridon in May 2021 as the resort sought to replace its manual compost bin model with a more efficient and sustainable process. The site was generating 25 tonnes of food waste annually—from post-consumer plate scrapings and food preparation—and wanted to avoid having it removed by an external disposal company and landfilled.
Huw Crampton, sales manager and food waste expert at Tidy Planet, said, “The Torridon sets a great example for the rest of the hospitality industry—showing how it’s possible to harness the resource potential of organic waste.” Crampton added that Tidy Planet’s Rockets are designed to help organisations work in harmony with nature, transforming the concept of ‘waste’ into ‘resource.’
The energy-efficient machines support hotels’ ESG strategies by decreasing their carbon impact and contributing positively to the planet’s wellbeing. The Torridon’s environmental efforts, which encompass energy, water, waste management, procurement, and more, have been acknowledged by industry bodies such as the Carbon Trust, Now Sustainability, and Green Tourism Business Scheme.