Café Spice Namaste scoops prestigious National Recycling Award

Café Spice Namaste, Cyrus and Pervin Todiwala’s flagship restaurant, won a coveted National Recycling Award for Waste Prevention (Commercial Category) at a ceremony held at the London Hilton Park Lane on 6th July. The awards, sponsored by Materials Recycling World, are the UK’s largest celebration of recycling and waste management excellence across British industry, requiring evidence of innovation and effective strategy implementation.

Café Spice Namaste was the sole restaurant in the entire UK to be nominated for the awards, and had been shortlisted in three other categories: the food waste initiative (private sector); retail/service sector recycler of the year; and the efficiency initiative.

By winning the Waste Prevention award, Café Spice Namaste beat a field of 11, including established technology, packaging, and laboratory testing companies. The restaurant, which marks its 21st year in 2016, impressed the judges with its demonstration of resource management, prevention of food waste (achieving a 22% reduction) — which it achieved through its own efforts and work to promote and support food recycling partners such as Food Cycle — as well as energy waste.

Manpreet Ahuja, senior chef and manager of special projects at Café Spice Namaste, collected the award on behalf of the restaurant. He said, ‘Winning this award is a proud moment in the history of our company. We knew it would be a challenge because there is good work being done out there by larger companies in the recycling and waste management space.

‘That we were the only restaurant nominated for these prestigious awards was an honour in itself, but winning a Waste Prevention National Recycling Award really validates all the effort and investment made by Cyrus and Pervin Todiwala and team through the years to help preserve our environment, even going against the tide on occasion. To be recognised for practising what we preach is amazing.’

Cyrus Todiwala OBE DL, Chef Patron of Café Spice Namaste, said, ‘Pervin and I would like to congratulate our entire team at Café Spice Namaste, from our kitchen staff to front of house, who have painstakingly worked to cut down waste and to maximise our resources. As a small company, we know that everything we use is precious. This is a team effort and this National Recycling Award means we have always been on the right track. But we won’t be complacent because now the bar is set even higher.’

The National Recycling Award is the latest in a long line of awards that Café Spice Namaste and Cyrus Todiwala have received for their commitment to the environment and sustainability. These include awards from the Footprint Forum and the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry.