As well as maintaining zero to landfill, we will reduce waste volume per £ of turnover by 20% and increase waste separation/recycling rate to 75%.
Our first aim is to reduce the volumes of waste we produce by reusing materials where possible and working with our suppliers to limit the volume of material coming on to site. We then look to increase the amount of recyclable material which is separated on site.
It is important to us that our waste is separated and treated properly, and as such we monitor our waste streams on an annual basis. Our teams have made strong progress in reducing waste, particularly when measured against business growth.
In 2019, Devonshire Group operations generated 1,111 tonnes of waste. By 2025, this had fallen to 1,031 tonnes, despite the Group expanding to include The Hide and Peak Village. As a result, waste intensity (kg of waste per £ of turnover) has decreased by 32% since 2019, significantly exceeding our ten-year target.
As an organisation, we achieved a recycling rate of 42% in 2025. This was broadly in line with our baseline year but represents a significant improvement on the previous year, when the recycling rate was 31%.
The improvement was driven by strong performance across several sites:
Beeley Inn achieved a recycling rate of 63%, up 30 percentage points on the previous year
The Chatsworth Estate Office achieved a recycling rate of 63%, up 24 percentage points.
The Cavendish Hotel at Baslow achieved a recycling rate of 59%, up 19 percentage points.
The graph below shows the waste directly produced by the Devonshire Group’s operations and activities. Recycled waste includes all waste streams that are separated on site: cardboard, paper, glass, tins and plastic which are recycled, and food waste, which is directed to anaerobic digestion plants. None of our waste ends up in landfill, with non-recyclable material incinerated at waste-to-energy plants.
What have we done so far?
Enhanced our visitor waste recycling facilities
Standardised recycling for offices and back-of-house operations
Waged a 'war on plastic' - cutting out avoidable single-use plastic from our operations
Organised an annual litter pick at Chatsworth - in 2025, dozens of volunteers helped collect over 350kg of litter from local roads and footpaths
