LowCGen

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.