RECYCLING & WASTE MANAGEMENT
paying £82.60 for every tonne of waste delivered to landfill.
On a different note, recycling can also be used to enhance Roadchef’s brand reputation demonstrating environmental responsibility. It also shows that the company is accountable for its actions giving a strong personality and allowing customers to relate to the brand. All these elements contribute to Roadchef looking attractive and potentially resulting in more motorists coming through their doors.
Companies do not always have the right resources or expertise to implement successful recycling processes and initiatives internally. Furthermore, understanding the strategic segregation, collections and sorting of waste materials for recycling can seem like a daunting task that can be left to the bottom of the list. A waste and recycling consultant can help reduce this initial stress and guide companies down the right recycling path.
In November 2015, after a rigorous tendering process Roadchef announced UKWSL as its new waste and recycling contractor for the next three years. The contract covers all 30 of the MSA operator’s nationwide locations and is estimated at £3 million. UKWSL is in charge of carrying out the provision of general waste services as well as advising the company on innovative new ways to dispose of the waste they produce as a business.
Currently, Roadchef has no internal recycling provision for customers, which by default results in customer waste being deposed as general waste. Although this waste is then collected and taken away for further recycling it does not produce as high quality recycling and prolongs the waste collection processes.
As of Monday 11th January 2016, Roadchef has a new bin system that focuses on simple segregation of waste. There will be three sections; general waste, mixed recycling and liquid making it easy for customers to determine where to put their waste.
www.tomorrowsfm.com
Although customer waste is a focus of the new waste management plan, the way Roadchef’s kitchen waste is collected will also be changed. On average five million coffees a year are served in its MSAs amounting to a considerable coffee grind waste, which typically ends up in food or general waste containers. UKWSL underlined the coffee grind waste of an area of potential innovation for Roadchef and believed it could potentially be quite useful. Now when the coffee is made the grounds are collected and put into a composter where they are mixed with wood pellets and air.
Mike Jackson, Director of Purchasing and Data at Roadchef, commented: “At Roadchef we work hard to ensure that our impact on the environment is minimised. Over the years we have been investing in a number of innovative measures to reduce the waste produced at our sites across the country and 2016 will be no different.
“As a motorway service area operator, our sites are open 24 hours-a-day throughout the year. Our 30 locations are visited by 44 million customers every year. We serve around one million breakfasts, 500,000 portions of fish and chips and more than five million coffees every year. The very nature of our business means that we are responsible for disposing of a lot of waste.
“Recently, we have introduced a process to recycle coffee grounds at some of our sites. Composting the grounds creates a rich fertiliser that can be used by households and businesses. Our outlet at Norton Canes is one of the busiest coffee shops in the world, serving more than one million customers every day. By recycling the grounds from each of these cups we are already removing a huge amount of waste that would historically go to landfill.
“WHEN COFFEE IS
MADE THE GROUNDS ARE COLLECTED
AND PUT INTO A COMPOSTER.”
The mixture heats up naturally, very quickly (roughly eight weeks) turning the coffee grounds into rich fertile compost to be used on the Roadchef grounds to enrich soil and grow flowers, food or even more coffee! The perfect circular economy, which increases and compliments the company’s processes as well as reducing financial costs.
UKWSL also provide a ‘Hub’ to clients, such as Roadchef so they can have live 24/7 easy access to a portal to track requests, review detailed material reports and trend analysis.
“Our latest project is working with UKWSL, who will be helping us install a new bin system at our 30 sites across the country. This will allow us to improve our waste management process and ensure that we can recycle as much as possible, reducing the amount that ends up in landfill and minimising the amount of harmful greenhouse gases that are released as a result.”
It is my firm opinion that there are multiple benefits from recycling and managing your businesses waste in the most productive way possible. In the current environment a sustainable business isn’t just about being ‘green’ for green’s sake, it makes good commercial sense. The combination of reducing costs, consumption and potentially increasing positive brand association is not a bad outcome in such a competitive corporate market.
www.ukwsl.co.uk TOMORROW’S FM | 45
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