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Many people think of recycling as a recent phenomenon of the green revolution however there is evidence of recycling from as far back as 400BC. During the Second World War resources were scarce and the Government ran massive recycling campaigns to ensure nothing was wasted

Households were asked to wash their recyclables before putting them out in tied bundles. Waste was segregated for the following uses:

• Tins and metal were collected for use in aircraft, tanks and weapons
• Boiled bones were used to make glue for aircraft, ground up to make fertilser or made into glycerine for explosives.
• Kitchen waste provided feed for pigs, chickens and goats and people would bring their scraps to communal bins
• Paper for munitions – newspapers were printed on low quality paper
• Rubber was collected to make tyres

Households were also encouraged to mend belongings such as clothes rather than buy new. Campaigns such as ‘Make Do and Mend’ and ‘Sew and Save’ gave advice on how to recycle your textiles and make clothes last longer. Knitting also became very popular during the Second World War.

On war time rations families had to plan meals carefully to ensure that food did not go to waste. With no fridges or freezers perishable food had to be bought in small quantities and meals were made with some interesting substitutes – tomato and cheese to make mock crab! Meat fat was saved to make pastry and even the cream from milk was collected in a jar and shaken to make butter and buttermilk. (Imperial War Museum, 2010)

Images from waste-invaders.co.uk

Nowadays we realise the importance of recycling to preserve the Earth’s resources, save money, reduce pollution and help combat climate change. However, in the UK we are still falling well below European targets for diverting waste from landfill. The uses of recyclable materials may be different now from what they were during the War but we can still look to our grandparents and the older generations for tips and inspiration.

The Government recycling programme WRAP currently estimates that around 8.3 million tonnes of food is discarded every year in the UK, equating to an average household value of £650. It is also estimated that a staggering 1.2 million tonnes of textile waste are dumped in landfill. At Ware 4 we are passionate about recycling and aside from simply providing recycling containers we offer advice and guidance with the aim to make sure every scheme is a success. Take a look some of our hints and tips for recycling and discover how you can reduce waste both in the home and at work.

Ware 4 has now agreed with Rubbermaid Commercial Products to extend it’s product offering to include janitorial and material handling ranges, as well as its extensive waste management range. Dave Barnett of Rubbermaid will be available to advise on technical issues, and a direct link from Ware4’s website will lead customers into the Rubbermaid online catalogue.

Have you ever thought about the recycling of recycling bins?

There are many factors that need to be considered when setting up a new recycling scheme in your company. For example, what waste streams will be recycled, how much waste will be produced, how many and what type containers will I need and do these need to follow a particular colour scheme? With all these different and sometimes confusing aspects to think about we may not consider is the actual environmental impact of the bins themselves.

A large proportion of recycling and waste bins in the UK market are manufactured from durable plastic (polypropylene).  Around 8% of global annual oil production is currently used in the manufacturing of plastics. Extracting this finite resource requires vast quantities of energy and the process of plastic production uses harmful chemicals, whilst emitting pollutants and greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. It is easy to see how, despite being created for an environmentally beneficial use, the manufacturing process of recycling bins will still have detrimental effects.

What can I do to reduce these environmental impacts?

• Buy quality products – look for containers that are durable and well constructed. Recycling containers for commercial use will need to withstand far greater wear and tear than those used in the home. Invest in well made products that are less likely to need replacing and will last for years to come. Many recycling schemes will become self funding in just a few years from the cost savings of diverting waste from landfill.

• Source UK manufactured & distributed products – There are a great number of ranges of containers to choose from that are UK or European manufactured and distributed. Reducing the distance needed to ship the goods will help reduce the overall carbon footprint of the product.

• Look for products with recycled plastic content – Many containers are now manufactured with a percentage of post-consumer recycled plastic. This will reduce the need for extraction of virgin materials and will also reduce energy consumption and emissions during the production process. For example, producing recycled plastic carrier bags uses two thirds less energy and 90% less water compared to virgin production.

• Buy second-hand containers – The best way you can reduce environmental impacts in waste management is through re-use. If you can source good quality second-hand or unwanted containers then this will prevent the bins from being discarded and provide you with a very cost effective scheme. It is surprising how many large corporations will end up with redundant containers from an altered pilot recycling project or simple change in colour scheme.

Ware 4 Pre-loved range

Take a look at our stock clearance offers and find your bargain buy today!

Many of us are keen recyclers both in the home and at work, however, we are often guilty of wasting food. The government waste organisation WRAP have highlighted food waste as a priority area for action working with both suppliers and consumers to help improve current food waste figures.

The WRAP campaign Love Food Hate Waste provides some really useful tips, recipes and information about the importance of cutting your food waste. You can discover what to do with your leftovers, learn how best to store food and even complete a 7 day food diary to see where your waste goes.

• Every year the UK throws away 8.3 million tonnes of food. If this could be prevented the CO2 impact would be equivalent to taking 1 in 4 cars off the road!
• You could also save a huge amount of money as the average household is currently wasting £650 of food every year

Visit www.lovefoodhatewaste.com to find out more…

Why not commit to one or all of our new years recycling resolutions and see your business reduce waste and save money?

Envirowise estimate that a company can save up to 4% of its annual turnover through waste minimisation alone. Add to this the cost savings of recycling waste instead of disposing in landfill, which currently stands at £40 / tonne, and your brand new scheme could pay for itself in just a year!

Reduce waste where possible

Assess your company processes to see where waste could be reduced. For example, can invoices be sent electronically and goods ordered in bulk to reduce packaging waste?

• Waste reduction should be the top priority of any waste management scheme as this is where the most cost effective and positive and environmental changes can be achieved.

Buy recycled paper

Purchasing recycled paper is no more expensive and nowadays the quality is as good as virgin paper.

• Producing one tonne of recycled paper saves 3000 litres of water and 78% energy use.
• Air emissions of gases such as CO2 are cut by 95% and there is less pollution because recycled paper is not bleached with chlorine.
• There is less demand for conifer plantations which destroy forest ecosystems and reduced emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane because the paper is not left to decompose in a landfill.

Re-use your cups

If your office has a vending machine you can re-use a plastic cup throughout the day or perhaps keep your own mug at your desk. Many vending machines have a sensor which detects when a cup is placed under the nozzle and prevents a new one from being dispensed.

• Around 8% of global annual oil production is currently used in the manufacturing of plastics and the process of production uses harmful chemicals.
• Plastics are non-biodegradable and may take hundreds of years to decompose.

Re-use paper

Print documents double-sided and keep a tray of scrap paper next to the printer for use with internal documents etc. Better still try to avoid printing where possible.

• Paper is often the highest volume waste stream in the workplace and even if a recycling system can not be set up, simply reducing and re-using paper can result in significant waste and cost savings.

Recycle aluminium

Aluminium is the most valuable and cost-effective waste stream to recycle. Why not set up a collection point next to your vending machines or canteen area?

• Metals can be recycled indefinitely and production from recycled metals requires just 5% of the energy required for primary production, whilst cutting CO2 emissions by a staggering 95%!
• If all the aluminium cans in the UK were recycled there would be 14 million fewer dustbins every year.

Recycle printer cartridges

Around 2 million printer cartridges are discarded every year. Recycling cartridges is easy as many suppliers offer a return scheme for used cartridges. Some cartridges can be simply refilled.

• Producing recycled toner cartridges reduces demand for raw materials and they can be purchased for as little as half the price of non-recycled cartridges!

Set up a battery collection scheme

Due to recent changes in legislation to battery disposal it is now easy to recycle your household batteries. There are a number of waste carriers who offer a collection service or alternatively they can be brought to collection points across the country, located at www.batteryback.org.uk

• Since 2004 battery waste was banned from landfill because they are classed as hazardous with many containing harmful heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury.
• Currently less than 3% of portable batteries in the UK are recycled compared to 14% in Spain and 59% in Belgium.

How can recycling help combat climate change?

Recycling has many benefits including cost savings, reduced need for virgin materials and finite resources, lower demand for landfill space and reduced pollution. Equally important it can help in the fight against climate change…

Emissions from landfill

Disposing of waste in a landfill is the least desirable option both environmentally and economically. As waste decomposes gases and leachates are produced. Despite stringent controls on a landfill site, such as lining to prevent leakage and flaring to prevent the build up of landfill gas, many substances still escape into the surrounding environment

Greenhouse gases - In a landfill waste decomposes in airtight conditions and large amounts of landfill gas are emitted as a by-product of the process. Landfill gas is largely comprised of methane, a highly explosive greenhouse gas that is roughly 24 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

Excess landfill gas must be flared for safety reasons. However, it is estimated that up to 50% still escapes into the atmosphere. Landfill gas can continue to be emitted for some 30 years after closure of the landfill site (DEFRA, 2003).

Energy savings through recycling

Manufacturing goods from recycled materials can save huge amounts of energy, which in turn, reduces greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere. This is because the vast majority of energy is produced through burning fossil fuels such as coal and gas and the combustion process releases carbon dioxide.

• Producing recycled paper and aluminium cans reduces CO2 emissions by 95% compared to primary production.
• Producing recycled plastic carrier bags uses two thirds less energy and 90% less water than primary production (waste Online, 2008).

How does recycling compare to other methods of waste disposal?

A study by WRAP compared the environmental impacts of recycling, landfill and incineration with energy recovery. The life cycle analyses (LCA) of 8 different waste streams were compared for each method of disposal and it was found that 83% of the scenarios favoured recycling.

Relative greenhouse gas savings were also assessed and figures showed that recycling the waste streams saves 10-15 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents per year compared to landfill and incineration with energy recovery. This equates to taking 3.5 million cars off the UK roads! (WRAP, 2008).

What about organic waste?

Any organic waste that cannot be recycled should be composted either in the home,  at a centralised facility or in an anaerobic digester.

Composters - When organic waste decomposes in a composter it is mixed with plenty of oxygen. The by-product is carbon dioxide rather than methane so the relative greenhouse gas emissions are automatically reduced. The nutrient-rich compost produced can be fed back into the land.

Anaerobic Digester – In an anaerobic digester waste may be decomposed in airtight conditions to produce methane, which can then be captured and burned to produce electricity. The chemical processes that decompose the waste also produce a lot of excess heat energy, which could be used to heat nearby homes and businesses. If you have a compost heap in your garden you may have noticed the centre becomes very warm. In a digester the compost can reach very high temperatures up to 60C. Using this controlled method gases are far less likely to escape into the atmosphere than in a landfill and again the final product is a nutrient-rich compost.

This Christmas we will produce an additional three quarters of a million tonnes of waste. As we are now well into the festive season why not take a moment to consider how you can do your bit for the environment by reducing Christmas waste?

Some interesting facts…

• The UK will create three quarters of a million tonnes extra waste this Christmas, which equates to 5 black bin bags per household. The equivalent in wasted energy would enable all households in Leeds and Doncaster to watch TV for a year (RecycleNow, 2008).

• In 2007 over 7 million Christmas trees were purchased and of those just 1.2million were recycled.

• The UK sends over 1 billion Christmas cards every year! This is the equivalent to 17 for every man, woman and child (Waste Online, 2008).

• Nearly 3000 tonnes of aluminium foil are used to wrap turkeys (Woodland Trust, 2008)

• Approximately 83km2 of wrapping paper will end up in UK landfill sites.

• Around 250 000 tonnes of plastic packaging will be discarded during the festive season (Waste Online, 2008).

Hints & Tips

Here are a few suggestions for how you can help reduce your Christmas waste:

• Cards – recycle your Christmas cards at Tesco, WHSmiths, M&S and TKMaxx to support the Woodland Trust. I like to re-use my Christmas cards by cutting them up and turning them into gift tags for next year’s presents.

• Trees – be sure to recycle your tree at your nearest council facility so that it can be turned into compost. Or better still; consider buying a potted tree that you can keep for next year.

• Decorations – when purchasing decorations try to source good quality products that can be used year after year. We still have decorations on our tree that were bought by my great grandmother!

• Wrapping paper – make sure you separate all your wrapping paper and card for recycling. If your council doesn’t offer a kerbside collection scheme these can easily be recycled at your local facility. Keep things like bags and ribbons to re-use next year.

• Food – plan your dinners and parties to avoid food waste. Try to buy drinks etc in large bottles to reduce packaging waste and source local produce as well. This needn’t be expensive if you shop at your local market.

• Presents – when purchasing gifts try to source durable, long-lasting products which avoid disposable components such as batteries. If batteries are required you could invest in rechargeable ones which would also save you money.

• Charities – If you have a friend who is not fussed about receiving big, expensive presents why not take a look at charity donation vouchers? A friend of mine was once given an acre of protected rainforest, which he was thrilled with! Don’t rule out charity shops as well to find the perfect gift. Last year I received a beautiful brand new Karen Millen dress (still with the original tags) which I later found out had cost just £4!

• Clothes – after the above, please don’t throw your unwanted clothes away!

• Recycled products – next time you’re out shopping for presents have a look at their recycled content. Remember it is vital that we support the market for recycled products if there is to be a demand for recyclable waste. Have a look at www.recycledproducts.org.uk for some ideas.

New Year’s Resolutions for 2010

This new year why not consider how your business can   reduce its carbon footprint and reduce waste going to  landfill. Choose one thing to change that will be easily achievable.

For example, if you are an office based business who use a lot of paper and printing you could provide desktop ‘TREEHUGGERS’ to collect paper for re-use and recycling. In our office we keep one by the printer so we can store scrap paper for printing internal documents.

If your office has a drinks machine you could introduce aluminium can recycling. Aluminium is one of the most valuable waste streams and the process in producing recycled cans uses 95% less energy. If all the aluminium cans in the UK were recycled there would be 14 million fewer dustbins (Waste Online, 2008).

Make your own environmentally-friendly gift tags this Christmas!

Envelopes often have interestingly-patterned insides which can be used as a cheap alternative to patterned paper. These simple gift tags are an eco-friendly alternative to shop-bought tags.

1. Sketch tag shape onto thick cardboard (roughly 6cm x 10cm) and cut out.

2.Trace around your tag template onto coloured card and cut out – don’t forget to rub out any pencil marks!

3. Choose your envelope inner and cut out your design – remember to avoid the envelope window!

4. Cut smaller pieces of paper in a lighter colour for the ‘to’ and ‘from’ message.

5. Punch a hole for your ribbon – a star cutter will look extra festive – and keep your cut out shapes  for later.

6. Stick on your backing paper and stamp or write ‘to’ and ‘from’ (a jaunty angle works quite well!) on.

7. Stick on your motifs, raising them slightly with sticky foam pads for a nice effect.

8. Stick on your leftover stars with the foam pads and tie ribbon through the star-shaped hole to finish.

And there you go – pretty, environmentally-friendly gift tags (and a very virtuous feeling!)!

Battery Waste in the UK

The average household uses 21 batteries a year, all of which could be recycled, yet around 600 million UK household batteries (22,000 tonnes) are unnecessarily sent to landfill every year. Currently less than 3% of portable batteries in the UK are recycled, a much lower rate than in other European countries; 2002 data showed figures of between 14% (Spain) and 59% (Belgium). The 2006 EU Battery Directive requires battery recycling levels to reach 25% by 2012, rising to 45% of batteries (500 million units) placed on the market by 2016.

Why Recycle?

It is compulsory to comply with the batteries regulations if your business:

• manufactures batteries or equipment containing batteries
• imports batteries into the UK for sale
• distributes and sells batteries
• uses batteries
• collects waste batteries
• treats, recycles or exports waste batteries

Most batteries contain heavy metals, which cause environmental concern. When disposed of incorrectly, these heavy metals can leak into the ground when the battery casing corrodes, contributing to soil and water pollution and endangering wildlife. Cadmium is toxic to aquatic invertebrates and can accumulate in fish, which damages ecosystems and makes them unfit for human consumption. Some batteries, such as button cell batteries, also contain mercury, which has similarly hazardous properties. Recycling batteries ensures the safe disposal of these hazardous materials.

Recycling also reduces the need for virgin materials to be used in production, as the plastic and metal components of batteries can be reused, within both the battery and wider steel industries, benefitting the environment.

As the batteries will not be heading for landfill, costs are also reduced to businesses that pay landfill tax.

Battery Recycling

Batteries contain numerous different metals which can be reused as a secondary raw material, and there are well-established methods for the recycling of most batteries, including:

• Alkaline/Zinc carbon
• Nickel Cadmium (NiCd)
• Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH)
• Lithium Ion rechargeables (Li-ion)
• Single use Lithium
• Button cells (Mercury and Silver Oxide)

To help the UK meet EU battery recycling regulations, from February 2010 shops selling more than 32kg of batteries a year (approx 345 four-packs of AA batteries) will have to provide battery recycling collection facilities in-store. This means there will be lots more places to take old batteries for recycling. Find your local battery recycling point at: http://www.recyclenow.com/what_can_i_do_today/can_it_be_recycled/waste_electronics/battery_recycling.html

BatteryBack (www.batteryback.org) will also be able to provide a collection service for all types of batteries from 1^st January 2010. Ware 4 offer a range of battery recycling units that can be used to store used batteries ready for collection, including the popular ‘Be Positive’ battery bin and the ‘Battery Hugger’. Visit our website (www.ware4.co.uk) and explore the rest of November’s Bin-Zine to find out more.

Alternatives

There are also alternatives to single use batteries:

-          Use rechargeable batteries wherever possible (you can even buy a solar powered recharger!) as the energy needed to manufacture a battery is around 50 times greater than the energy it gives out. These rechargeable batteries can also be recycled at selected recycling points once finished with. However, rechargeable batteries are not suitable for smoke alarms as they tend to run out suddenly, preventing the alarm from warning when battery power is low.

-          Plug electrical equipment into the mains electricity.

-          Buy appliances that use renewable energy: gadgets that are currently available include wind-up radios and torches, dynamo bicycle lights and solar powered calculators.

More Links

Find out more about the EU Batteries Directive at:

http://www.netregs.gov.uk/netregs/legislation/future/63655.aspx?gclid=CPCA7uPS7p0CFWlr4wodTwhVMA

Given the nature of our business we naturally have a passion for issues surrounding the environment. We are already aware of the benefits of having an Environmental Management System (EMS), as highlighted in our previous article, and have an understanding of how to conduct and measure environmental impacts.

We have prepared a guide for Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) giving advice about how to implement an EMS based on our own ongoing experiences, which we aim to keep regularly updated. Based on a similar structure recommended by the ISO 14001 guidlines it is divided into the following sections:

• Environmental Policy
• Environmental Audit
• Plan of Action
• Measurements and records
• Review and amendments

All these processes should work in a cycle of continual improvement whereby the system is regularly reviewed and new methods are introduced.

We have also tried to include a rough time guide where possible for each area of the EMS, although this will obviously vary from business to business depending on size and availability of resources.

The results of our EMS will be published in a short report, which we will upload to our website. This report will also highlight any challenges we have faced and how we have overcome these as well as updates of how the EMS is progressing with measurements of its success.