A Waterloo charity that provides food to the borough’s most vulnerable families is set to receive a boost in their donations.  The Waterloo Food Bank has teamed up with Park Plaza Westminster Bridge London and Waterloo Quarter Business Improvement District (WQBID) to raise money by recycling old textiles from Park Plaza Westminster Bridge London.

Park Plaza Westminster Bridge London hotel will now recycle all of its towels, linen, blankets and pillows through the exciting new initiative. The idea stemmed from the free recycling service that WQBID provides to local businesses, through recycling company First Mile Ltd.
 

First Mile will now collect old textiles that are accumulated by the hotel. The material will generate up to £0.40 per kilo and it will be recycled back into new items, or if in good condition can be sold for re-use.  The 1000 room hotel is one of the busiest in London, and is often fully booked.   In the first year of this initiative, Park Plaza Westminster Bridge London expects to recycle more than 1000 towels, 300 pillows and 300 blankets which will raise more than £500 for the local Food Bank. 
 

Steve Chalke, Founder of the Oasis Trust and Senior Minister of Oasis Church Waterloo, which runs the Waterloo Food Bank said ‘Since April this year, when many Benefits changes were introduced, the number of individuals being fed by the Waterloo Foodbank has increased from an average of 96 to 191 per month. In July alone 149 adults and 96 children have benefitted from food parcels distributed from Oasis Church Waterloo. The support that this initiative brings is crucial to the sustainability of the project in the face of vastly increased demand.’
 

Daniel Pedreschi, General Manager of Park Plaza Westminster Bridge Hotel “We understand that by making positive choices we can all reduce our effect on the environment and every effort has been made to increase our sustainability as a company with Park Plaza Westminster Bridge London receiving ‘Considerate Hotelier of the Year 2013’ recently. We are delighted to continue this success and support our local community with increased recycling schemes and pioneering new technology.”
 

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Notes to editors:
 

PPHE Hotel Group Limited owns, leases, develops, operates and franchises full service upscale and lifestyle hotels in major gateway cities and regional centres, predominantly in Europe.  The majority of the Group's hotels operate under two distinct brands, Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts and art'otel®.
 

The Group has an exclusive licence from Carlson, a global privately held hospitality and travel company, to develop and operate Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The art'otel brand is fully owned by PPHE Hotel Group and it has a minority ownership interest in the Arenaturist group, one of Croatia's leading hospitality companies.
 

Through its strategic partnership with Carlson, PPHE Hotel Group has access to their powerful reservation and distribution system, loyalty programmes such as Club Carlson for guests and Look To BookSM for travel agents, 23 airline partnerships and cross-selling opportunities. 
 

The portfolio of owned, leased, managed and franchised hotels comprises 38 hotels offering a total of more than 8,200 rooms. The development pipeline includes four new hotels, which together are expected to add nearly 800 rooms to the portfolio by the end of 2015.
 

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Waterloo Foodbank. The Waterloo Foodbank, part of The Trussell Trust’s UK-wide foodbank network, exists to provide 3 days of nutritionally-balanced emergency food to local people in crisis.

The foodbank works with frontline care professionals to identify those in need, and signpost clients to organisations able to help combat the longer term problem. The Waterloo Foodbank is managed by Oasis Church Waterloo on behalf of local churches.

Waterloo Quarter BID. Waterloo Quarter BID is the Business Improvement District for Waterloo. Funded by a levy on over 330 local business, the BID works to create a Waterloo that is a destination, not just a transport interchange, a safer and more pleasant trading environment; a great place to set up a business and a creative and connected community in which to work. The partnership between Park Plaza Westminster Bridge London and the Waterloo Foodbank has been brokered in partnership with Waterloo Quarter’s recycling contractor First Mile as part of the BID’s ‘Our Waterloo’ CSR initiative.

First Mile. First Mile are London’s leading recycling company.  They provide daily collections of recycling and waste from more than 10,000 offices, shops and other businesses throughout London. 

Photo (from left to right): Ro Leech (Waterloo Foodbank); Nataliya Yatsyna (Park Plaza Westminster Bridge London); Ben StGeorge (First Mile); Helen Santer (Waterloo Quarter BID)

For further information please contact:

Maria Karapandeli
PR Executive - EMEA
PPHE Hotel Group
mkarapandeli@pphe.com / +44 (0)20 7034 1388