Nottingham Trent University
Staff from the Bonington Building cleaning team with Wastecycle.
J Tomlinson
Jane Hatton receives her award from Mick Roots
Ashe Construction
Justin Howard (R) receives his award from Jack Fletcher (L)
Luxfer Gas Cylinders
Andy Harrison (L) of Wastecycle presenting the award to Peter Murphy and Darren Kirby.
CDA Group
Ian Farrow (L) of CDA group with Daniel Shearstone (R) of Wastecycle
Loughborough University
Charlie of Wastecycle (L) with Nik (C) and Tasha (R) from Loughborough University
Cressall Resistors
Grant Willis (L) of Wastecycle and Joe Pickering (R) of Cressall Resistors
Ten East Midlands companies’ love of recycling has been rewarded – just in time for Valentine’s Day.
The companies, four in Nottinghamshire and six in Leicestershire, have made significant efforts to increase the amount of waste they recycle, resulting in recognition from resource management and recycling company, Wastecycle, which has presented the companies with Love Recycling Awards.
The Nottinghamshire companies receiving awards were Nottingham Trent University, J Tomlinson in Beeston, CDA in Langar, 2 Sisters Laboratory and Luxfer Gas Cylinders in Colwick.
In Leicestershire, where Wastecycle also operates, the winners were: Loughborough University, Cressall Resisters, Ashe Construction, the National Space Centre, Wates and Office Depot.
Wastecycle, which processes over 500,000 tonnes of waste at its Leicester and Nottingham facilities every year, asked its Account Managers to nominate companies and individuals who had embraced recycling, gone the extra mile to introduce systems and processes that reduced their company’s impact on the environment, or increased the amount of materials which were recycled through innovative methods.
Jane Hatton at J Tomlinson’s Head Office in Beeston was nominated by Mick Roots for significantly improving the company’s waste recycling operation by introducing waste segregation, training staff, improving safety on site around waste collecting machinery, and working with Wastecycle’s transport team to ensure hazardous and non-hazardous waste collections run smoothly.
Ian Farrow at high-quality kitchen appliance manufacturer CDA in Langar, also received recognition for his efforts. Ian has ensured cardboard, plastic, timber and dry mixed recycling from the canteen are now separated for collection; introduced processes to reduce the number of transport visits Wastecycle make to site thereby reducing CO2 emissions; training warehouse staff on recycling procedures and achieving a 99% diversion rate meaning only 1% of CDA’s waste goes to landfill
A simple move by Emma Picker and her cleaning team at Nottingham Trent University’s Bonington Building to use black bags for general waste and clear bags for mixed recycling, has increased the amount of waste that goes to recycling and reduced contamination. The success of the trial has led to the initiative being rolled out to other buildings.
In addition, the team discuss the importance of recycling with students and other staff and have increased the number of recycling bins in the building.
At 2 Sisters Laboratory, Wastecycle and the company introduced improved colour coded signage at all workstations, with staff trained on recycling. Now food waste, general waste, mixed recycling and liquid waste are all segregated. An average of two tons of food waste per week is delivered directly into a specialist food recycler, reducing cost, recovering energy and cleaning up the residual general waste that goes to Wastecycle.
Luxfer Gas Cylinders has, over the last two years, improved its on-site segregation. The company and Wastecycle work closely together to ensure as much waste, from the smallest rubber grommet through to large industrial cylinders, is recycled where possible. In particular, the company’s efforts to deal with potentially harmful aluminium dust led it to be recognised by Wastecycle.
The Loughborough Cup project, in which Nik Hunt and his team at Loughborough University distributed reusable cups to staff and students, not only significantly reduced the use of non-recyclable cups on campus, it also introduced a recycling scheme for disposable and unrecyclable cups. As well as increasing awareness amongst students about recycling, the scheme has removed unrecyclable plastic and paper cups from dry mixed recycling bins and stopped liquid waste contaminating dry mixed recycling. Staff and students have also been educated on how to reduce waste and dispose of it in the correct way, so that it benefits the environment.
Joe Pickering, SHEQ Engineer at Cressall Resistors, was nominated for several initiatives. The company has installed a baler to reduce the volume of card and polythene, thereby reducing the number of lorries needed to collect and transport waste. Wood, hazardous waste, fluorescent tubes and waste electrical items are all segregated to achieve increased recycling rates.
Ashe Construction Director Justin Howard’s passion for recycling earnt him the recognition. The company has trained its site managers on the importance of waste segregation on site; monitored the recycling rates of its sites and holds quarterly review meetings to examine recycling performance and introduce new procedures where possible.
Since becoming a Wastecycle customer in September 2016, the National Space Centre has increased segregation month on month by introducing different containers for dry mixed recycling, card, glass, metal and green waste, rocketing themselves onto the list of winners.
Susan Shellard at Wates also introduced waste segregation to the business, which resulted in a dramatic increase in the amount of recyclable material. Keeping the various types of waste separate has also reduced both collection costs and the amount of waste that was sent to landfill. Susan has also overseen training for staff, which along with other new processes, means 98.24% of all waste on Susan’s Charnwood project is recycled.
With over 350 staff across its office and warehouse, Office Depot is a large operation. Compliance Administrator, Barry Emms was recognised by Wastecycle for his commitment to increase recycling, which he has achieved through staff education and introducing new signage, clearly showing the waste that can be disposed of in each bin. He has also introduced a baler for compacting waste cardboard, reducing collections and haulage miles. The company’s commitment to recycling has even stretched to finding a way of putting 60 pallets of out-of-date vending machine coffee and chocolate powder to good use. Rather than throw it away, it was offered to an animal feed manufacturer.
Paul Clements, Wastecycle’s Commercial Director said: “We wanted to highlight and celebrate the fantastic results that Wastecycle and its customers have achieved in reducing the amount of waste that goes to landfill, the reduction in the miles our collection vehicles travel, and the increased recycling productivity we’ve managed to achieve through working in partnership. By introducing the Love Recycling Awards, we’ve been able to say thank you to our customers and the people within those organisations that have played a significant role in reducing waste, increasing the amount of waste that has been recycled and diverting so much material from landfill.”
