Tackling single-use plastic in our cafés: an interview with our Sustainability Manager, Sue Penlington.

April 16, 2025 | WONDER | 9 minute read

At Holkham, we’re always striving to be more sustainable, working on our three ‘WONDER’ goals: to pioneer environmental gain, to champion low carbon living, and to tread lightly and stamp out waste. In this journal, Sustainability Manager, Sue Penlington discusses how we are tackling single-use plastic in our three cafés, how to correctly identify your rubbish and the processes involved with recycling and composting eco-friendly products.

Sue – tell us, when did Holkham start using compostable packaging & why?

When we opened The Lookout café in 2018 we introduced the first  compostable packaging ever used at Holkham for coffee cups, sandwich boxes and hot food wrappers. It was pioneering at the time and really influenced what we could sell there. We started to role this packaging out to our other cafés and committed fully to phasing out single use plastic as part of our waste goal for ‘WONDER’ our sustainability and conservation action plan which we launched in 2020.

Back then we also asked our catering concessions – like The Original Grinder and Solar Scoops ice cream at the Walled Garden to also move over to compostable cups, lids and paper straws. This also extended to other food offerings on site such as Feast in the Park our summer food festival.

We know that plastic contains oil, a non-renewable fossil fuel so using it as single use isn’t great for the planet. The government supported this by banning plastic straws, cutlery and disposable cups in 2024.

I thought plastic could be recycled so it’s okay to use?

Okay, so this is where things get a bit complicated! Yes, hard plastic like milk bottles can be recycled however, there are lots of different types of plastic which can’t be recycled in a standard waste stream such as soft plastic like bread bags. Plastic is made using fossil fuels which are causing climate change so we’d rather use items not made from plastic like our coffee cups which are made from plants, not plastic, therefore it’s a renewable resource.

Another reason to move away from plastic food containers and cups is once they have been in contact with food they are classed as contaminated so can’t be recycled. That’s also the case for cardboard pizza boxes which is why our pizza boxes at the Beach Café can go into our compostable collection along with any crusts!

How do I know what is recyclable and what is compostable?

In Holkham cafés if it has the compostable symbol or says ‘Vegware’ ‘Packaging made from plants’ or ‘Commercially compostable’ it can be composted.

The packaging on our

• • Sandwiches
  • Wraps
  • Pots of fruit
  • Snack pots
  • Salads
  • Coffees cups
  • Coffee lids
  • Stirrers
  • Napkins

Is compostable! For those with really good eyesight you will see PLA7 or PLA8 on the bottom of the cold food pots.

If it’s made from glass, metal, paper, foil, a yoghurt pot or cardboard it’s recyclable.

If you’re not sure please take a look at our bins which show you which items go into which bin or just ask a member of our team who will be more than happy to help you.

Outside of Holkham there are so many different terms and symbols it can be a challenge to understand – commercially compostable, home compostable, recyclable, recyclable in store, PLA free, biodegradable. There are some great websites and apps out there but my advice would be if in doubt, leave it out as small amounts of contamination can lead to whole loads of recycling being incinerated instead.

What happens to our compostable cups, packaging and  food waste?

We’re really proud to say that our compostable packaging and any food waste such as veg peelings go to a site in Cambridge where it is treated in a commercially compostable plant and turned into a soil improver – it’s similar to compost but on a bigger scale. We get some of this back and put it in the kitchen garden in our Walled Garden where we grow some of the produce you can find in The Victoria and sometimes our cafés too. It’s called a closed loop system.

What packaging can’t be recycled or composted? – Basically things that we don’t package ourselves!

1. Crisp packets

With the exception of Two Farmers which we sell at The Lookout we’ve been unable to find any other companies that use home recyclable packets.

You can take crisp packets back to supermarkets to their soft plastic recycling areas where they take items such as bread packets and vegetable bags. Whilst we are currently unable to offer this service at Holkham, we fully support the supermarkets’ efforts in recycling soft plastics and hope this can be rolled out further in future.

2. Cakes

Plastic is a cheap, flexible material which helps keep food fresher for longer. Because of this some of our cake suppliers still use plastic packaging. We are constantly trying to find alternative suppliers and products but we also need to consider the taste, lifespan and cost of these delicious treats so that we still sell items which our customers love.

I hear you have a success story on this front?

Yes, we do. We’ve been supplied by Sponge a local company who have supplied us with delicious cakes since 2017. Due to food hygiene and allergen restrictions, all of their products need to be wrapped individually. We approached them a couple of years ago and asked if they could replace their plastic film with a compostable version. At the time this wasn’t possible due to the stock that they held and the set up of the machinery but last year they made the switch which is fantastic news for us and the planet. It’s great to work with a local company who are passionate like us and they’ve even added a message to their packaging explaining it’s made from bioplastic.

3. Ice cream wrappers

This is another minefield as different parts of wrappers can and can’t be recycled. For example a Calipo foil lid can be recycled but the tube can’t be. Feast wrappers can’t be but their sticks are made from wood so can be popped into our compostable bin.

At The Lookout we’ve got rid of packaging all together and working with Danns Ice Cream have wrapper free ice lollies!

Again, the big companies have their own goals for example Walls has committed that 100% of their plastic packaging is designed to be fully reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2025. Once they’ve achieved their goal, local company Dann’s Ice Cream will be able to use the packaging on their ice lollies.

4. The final bits and bobs

We’re really pleased to have designed our food offer to reduce as much single use plastic as possible. The final items we’re looking to replace with suitable alternatives are cheese portions for children’s lunchboxes, clingfilm for cold sausage rolls (we trialed a compostable version but unfortunately it didn’t stick) and the occasional seasonal treat.

It feels like we’ve invested a lot of time into reducing single use plastic and increasing our recycling and composting.

Why are you so interested in it?

One of our three WONDER goals is to tread lightly, stamp out waste. We set ourselves the ambitious goal of reducing our non-recyclable waste by 10% a year for the next 10 years. We’re five years into this target and we’ve successfully achieved it which is exceptionally rewarding (more to follow on this exciting news). We could not have achieved this without all the work the team and our visitors have done in our cafés and food concessions.

With sustainability, although we often know what we need to do to make more conscious choices and decisions, it sometimes feels unachievable, out of reach or too difficult. For example, I’d love to have an electric car but I can’t afford one yet and my house faces the wrong position to have solar panels on the roof. But one thing I can do and so can everyone at Holkham and at home is to separate our waste so we hope you will join us in our goal to tread lightly and stamp out waste.