ATTENTION!
ALERT: Over 20,000 Bakers Basco Items Recovered from Outdoor Event Sites
As the 2026 outdoor events season gets underway, Bakers Basco is reminding
festival organisers, caterers, market traders and event suppliers that our bread
baskets and dollies are reusable supply chain assets – not disposable equipment.
During the 2025 outdoor events season, Bakers Basco recovered more than 20,000
items, including 18,438 baskets and 1,690 dollies, from markets, catering
businesses, festivals and other event locations across the UK.
These items are owned by Bakers Basco and are designed to be reused hundreds of
times within the bakery supply chain. However, every year thousands are removed
from circulation, misused for storage or display, or discarded altogether. This not
only disrupts the supply chain but also undermines the environmental benefits of a
circular reuse system.
The majority of recoveries came from markets and wholesale markets (8,700 items)
and catering businesses (4,300 items), with further recoveries made at major events
including Glastonbury and horse racing venues.
Every basket or dolly that is lost or sent to landfill creates unnecessary waste and
increases the need for replacement equipment. We are urging everyone involved in
the events sector to help keep these assets in circulation and report any misuse.
Have You Found Bakers Basco Equipment?
We offer a free recovery service for all Bakers Basco baskets and dollies.
Contact us immediately for collection:
�� enquiries@bakersbasco.co.uk
�� 08000 327323
Help us keep reusable equipment where it belongs – in the supply chain, not at
event sites.
OUR MEMBERS
Celebrating 20 years of Bakers Basco
When Bakers Basco was created in 2006, the goal was straightforward: to protect the shared equipment that keeps the UK’s bakery supply chain moving. Two decades on, I’m incredibly proud of how far we’ve come and of the role Bakers Basco now plays in supporting bakers, retailers and consumers across the country.
Over the last 20 years, the way food is produced, transported and sold has changed beyond recognition. What hasn’t changed is the importance of having reliable, reusable equipment to get fresh bread from bakeries to shelves every single day. Our baskets and dollies may be simple items, but they are absolutely essential to the nation’s food infrastructure.
From the very beginning, we recognised that protecting this equipment required more than just replacing what went missing. It required collaboration, innovation and persistence. That is why we invested early in tracking technology, recovery operations and national awareness campaigns. It’s why we built specialist investigations teams and worked closely with partners across logistics, retail, recycling and law enforcement.
Those efforts have delivered real, measurable results. Since 2013 we have reduced basket attrition by 40% and dolly attrition by 58%. We’ve seen equipment recoveries rise year on year, and we’ve helped keep millions of pieces of reusable plastic in circulation rather than being lost, stolen or sent to landfill. None of that happens by accident – it happens because people across the industry have worked together to make it happen.
I’d like to thank our five founding members – Allied Bakeries, Fine Lady Bakeries, Frank Roberts & Sons, Hovis and Warburtons – for their continued commitment to the scheme, and to everyone across the supply chain who supports our mission. Delivery drivers, retailers, market traders, councils, recyclers and the public all have a part to play, and many have become powerful allies in protecting this vital equipment.
As we look to the future, our focus remains the same: to keep improving, to keep innovating and to keep protecting the assets that help feed the nation. The challenges may evolve, but our commitment will not.
Thank you for your support over the past 20 years. Here’s to the next chapter.
Let’s keep things moving – return the baskets, keep the bread flowing.
Free collection: 0800 032 7323
— Paul Empson, General Manager, Bakers Basco
