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BUSINESS MAGAZINE AWARDS 2014
THAMES VALLEY Taking the green route
As sponsor of the Green Business category in this year’s Thames Valley Business Magazine Awards, Grundon Waste Management leads by example, writes Alison Dewar
Over the past 12 months, its contribution to environmental initiatives have included going CarbonNeutral across its entire roadgoing vehicle fleet; a major investment in a new anaerobic digestion plant to treat food waste; and installation of additional energy saving measures at its Lakeside Energy from Waste (EfW) facility in Colnbrook.
And of course, that’s in addition to the company’s day-to-day business of encouraging its customers throughout the Thames Valley to reduce, re-use, recycle and recover wherever possible, often using innovative technologies and ideas to help them do so.
Neil Grundon, deputy chairman, explains: “Our mantra is: ‘the environment is at the heart of what we do’ and it is very important to us.
“Our business isn’t just about waste management, it’s about identifying and implementing the latest recycling and recovery technologies, helping our customers to see that by making small changes they can achieve big environmental rewards.
“We know however, that good environmental policy starts at home and if we can demonstrate success through our own achievements, we hope we can encourage others to follow.”
Since 2000 the company, which has operations stretching from Banbury and Benson in Oxfordshire; through to Bishop’s Cleeve near Cheltenham; Beenham near Newbury; Salfords near Gatwick in West Sussex; and Colnbrook in Berkshire, has reduced its carbon footprint by an impressive 82.5%.
Among the successes have been:
• 34% reduction in the amount of gas used company-wide from 2011-2012
• 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from landfill
• Investment in a gas pipe network to capture landfill gases to power approximately 3,400 homes from one site alone
• Installation of energy-efficiency measures such as half-hourly metering, low-voltage lighting and a recirculation heating system at its Benson headquarters
• Planting of 3,805 trees in 2012.
Its commitment to the green agenda was strengthened still further at the beginning of 2014, when Grundon partnered with The CarbonNeutral Company, a world-leading provider of carbon reduction solutions.
By offsetting vehicle emissions through a carbon finance programme, Grundon expects to reduce 30,000 tonnes of carbon emissions over a three-
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year period, with money from the carbon credits going to farmers in rural Uganda to plant trees and help reverse the country’s trend towards deforestation.
Keen to find out how the scheme works, Grundon’s compliance manager Toni Robinson recently went to Uganda to meet local subsistence farmers who are supported by The International Small Group Tree Planting Programme (TIST), which works with The CarbonNeutral Company.
For consumers, Grundon’s “on the go” recycling initiative Greenredeem, which rewards green behaviours, is also going from strength to strength as more local authorities and businesses see the benefits of encouraging people to recycle more.
This winter will see also the culmination of a major investment by Grundon in a brand new aerosol recycling system. Capable of processing around 9,000 aerosols an hour, the AeroCycle 6000 is the world’s most advanced closed loop aerosol recycling system and has been installed at Grundon’s Ewelme operation.
The Grundon team says the unit has the potential to transform the way the public, commerce and industry handles the disposal of aerosol cans and it is hoped it will also drive more sophisticated return and recycling schemes by major manufacturers, retailers and local authorities.
Toni Robinson (second right, back row) is pictured with quantifiers for one of the projects, together with Vivian Frost, client relationship manager at The CarbonNeutral Company (far left)
Commenting afterwards, she said: “Having talked to the farmers, their families and those working with TIST, I now realise what a difference this project is making. While the carbon funding is related to trees, TIST’s work is about so much more. It’s providing valuable education and training, changing farming habits so families utilise all their land and have a combination of crops which provide an income as well as food for the family.
“This experience has really brought the project to life for me and it’s been a privilege to meet such wonderful people who are passionate about the environment and developing their communities in a sustainable way. I’m thrilled to see that Grundon’s support is truly helping to improve lives for these families and generations to come.”
Closer to home there have been several other initiatives, including a further multi-million pound investment in Carbon8 Aggregates. It uses innovative patented technology to recycle waste flue gas treatment residues (FGTr) from Grundon’s joint venture Lakeside EfW plant at Colnbrook – allowing Lakeside to become truly “zero waste” – and convert it into the world’s first carbon negative aggregate for the building trade.
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – OCTOBER 2014
“Projects like this demonstrate our commitment to the green agenda not just for today, but for the future too,” concluded Neil Grundon. “We are gradually moving from being a throwaway society into one which cares about the future and the need to embrace waste as a future resource. We’re doing all we can to bring that one step closer.”
Details: Toni Robinson 01491-834311
toni@grundon.com www.grundon.com
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