RESIN RESOLUTIONS


Here, FeRFA reveals how it leads the resin flooring industry in impressive recycling and waste management improvements.


FeRFA, The Resin Flooring Association, operates a successful recycling scheme which continues to grow in scale and importance. The 2017 figures for diversion of waste from landfill were 2,054.68 tonnes, compared with 1,877.82 in the previous year. The continuing year-on-year upward trend for the diversion of materials away from landfill shows that the industry as a whole is intent on improving its recycling performance.


This is an impressive success story for the resin flooring sector, considering that up to the introduction of the FeRFA recycling scheme in 2011, waste packaging was routinely sent to landfill. The drive to sustainability has been encouraged by changes in the relevant legislation, with greater focus on streaming waste and identifying recycling opportunities.


FeRFA’s partners in the recycling scheme are Reconomy UK and Protech Plastics Containers. Reconomy UK provides outsourced recycling and resource management services throughout the UK, and Protech manufactures containers in various sizes and provides a sustainable packaging solution for resin flooring materials, by producing polypropylene containers with 40% recycled material.


Reconomy is the UK’s market leader in outsourced recycling and resource management services and have worked with FeRFA to produce a guide to the relevant Waste Legislation and the potential costs of non compliance with the regulations.


The legislation relating to construction waste is very complex, incorporating both laws specific to the industry and wider health and safety and environmental laws in addition. Much of the current legislation originates from the 2008 EU Waste Framework Directive. This introduced:


• The ‘polluter pays’ principle, which means that companies should take financial responsibility for any negative environmental impact they create.


• The concept of extended producer responsibility, which promotes environmentally responsible design and planning.


12 | SUSTAINABILITY FOCUS


• The waste hierarchy, which encourages prevention, minimisation, reuse or recycling of waste over landfill disposal.


Construction waste is classed as a type of ‘controlled waste’, which means that it is also covered by the Environmental Protection Act 1990 in England, Wales and Scotland. The movement of controlled waste, particularly anything considered hazardous waste, is strictly regulated.


Since companies with multiple sites might find it difficult to ensure compliance across their entire operation, one option is to delegate responsibility to other employees. For example you could appoint a monitor on each site to take charge of compliance. However you will need to help them keep up to date with the latest changes to legislation. Another possibility is to create a specific compliance officer role, so a particular employee is dedicated to maintaining compliance with all the relevant legislation across all the sites you operate.


Alternatively, you could delegate to a third party organisation, such as Reconomy UK which is an outsourced waste management provider with a dedicated environmental and compliance team. They should be able to share the benefit of their expertise to help you stay compliant across all the sites you control.


They will also provide technical solutions to help you monitor compliance on all your sites remotely, for example giving you digital access to the waste transfer note or consignment note for every waste collection or drop-off. Whichever option you go for, trust will be an essential component, as the cost of non- compliance (to finances as well as reputation) can be very high for all parties involved.


Simple, clear and up to date guidance is essential for all companies in the industry to ensure they remain compliant.


www.ferfa.org.uk www.reconomy.com


www.tomorrowscontractfloors.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20