Archive for the Waste Management Category

20 Ways to Reduce Your Waste

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

Waste Management

Reduce your waste and you reduce the associated charges. Landfill tax alone is £48 per tonne (from 1 April 2010) and increasing by £8 per tonne each year until at least 2014 – so it’s easy to see why DEFRA suggest some organisations can save up to 1% of turnover by implementing some simple steps to minimise and manage waste.

Here’s a few tips to get you started…

 

Reduce / Eliminate:

  • Is that purchase really necessary? In that volume?
  • Aspire for the ‘paperless office’ and duplex printing where necessary
  • Reduce the packaging on your products
  • Requesting suppliers reduce their packaging or take it away with them
  • Consider if the waste material can be put back into the production process to reduce costs
  • Encourage the use of reusable (e.g. mugs / washable towls) rather than disposable (e.g. plastic cups and paper towls) products

 

Reuse:

  • Maintain and repair items
  • Reuse folders, cartridges (e.g. refills or lease agreements), disks etc.
  • Find alternative uses for items e.g. shredded paper is great for lining rabbit hutches
  • Give items away, for reuse by someone who needs it: uk.freecycle.org

 

Recycle:

  • Sort the different waste streams as far as possible – there are ways of recycling many items beyond what is part of a standard collection, if you look around, especially online
  • Make full use of the recycling services available and encourage other employees to do the same
  • If you have a waste material, another party may be able to use it, to reduce your waste costs – sometimes they even pay for it. Examples are: materials-exchange.org.uk and salvomie.co.uk
  • Give to Charity  – Help the aged and Age Concern have ink cartridge take-back schemes, there are similar for phones and other equipment.
  • Composting – ever considered a wormery or compost heap to dispose of the tea bags and food waste? It produces some great compost for the garden!

 

Stay compliant:

  • If appropriate, ensure your waste contractor has a permit in place and is taking it to a permitted site for disposal – permit numbers can be checked via the Environment Agency
  • Ensure any Waste Transfer Notes are fully completed by both you and the contractor and are kept for 2 years
  • Make sure all waste is kept securely
  • Remember WEEE (Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment) should be disposed of separately, not as part of the regular waste or recycling
  • Ensure different types of waste (e.g. kitchen, hygiene, electronic goods, hazardous waste, rubble etc) are stored separately

Remember, to demonstrate your continued environmental improvement , you should ensure that you record current waste levels and then measure again after you have implemented these tips. We would love to hear how you get on and if you have any good tips of your own to share, please let us know.

For further information or to discuss your waste management requirements call us today on 01280 812 909.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Latest News, Waste Management