RECYCLING AND WASTE MANAGEMENT STRIVING FOR IMPROVEMENT
Huw Crampton, of food waste solutions expert Tidy Planet, offers five good reasons for rethinking large-volume food waste strategies.
Waste management is an area that presents a range of challenges to FM professionals — especially when it comes to food waste. Whether it’s overspending on supplies, or navigating the ever-increasing pressure to implement more sustainable solutions, waste management has historically been, and continues to be, a pertinent topic for FMs.
This is reflected in the statistics, where research has revealed food waste as the material organisations are the most concerned about, surpassing other waste streams including plastic and cardboard. This is particularly true for FMs looking after buildings that produce large quantities of food waste, such as food retailers or businesses operating in the hospitality sector.
The successful management of buildings depends on the efficient, sustainable and safe disposal of waste — so it’s essential that FMs keep examining their current methods and striving for improvement.
To advance sustainability credentials Investing in sustainable, closed-loop recycling solutions, such as composting technology, offers significant sustainability benefits.
Food waste builds up rapidly, and traditional methods of disposal are not practical or sustainable from either a financial or environmental perspective. Frequent bin collections, for example, can end up being very expensive and contribute towards increased carbon emissions — which can be a real issue for FMs working to tight budgets, or looking to achieve certain environmental goals.
Composting on site, however, is a sustainable way of dealing with large volumes of food or green waste, converting it into a valuable resource that is rich in nutrition and organic matter, ideal for both capturing carbon and improving soil quality.
To engage with ESG initiatives Rethinking large-volume food waste strategies also offers an opportunity to engage with sustainability benefits such as ESG.
For example, implementing sustainable technologies, such as composters, converts waste through natural processes into a usable resource on site — removing the need for transportation of materials, and helping to keep the carbon footprint as low as possible. The quality and quantity of the compost output can also be monitored accurately, which is ideal for FMs trying to track and benchmark their organisation’s overall sustainability performance.
This data can be used to help secure sustainable accreditation or certification — evidencing sustainability claims and positively shaping a company’s reputation.
To reduce pests and vermin It’s no secret that waste — especially food waste — attracts pests and vermin, which if left untreated can pose a real threat to the health and safety of an organisation.
Although pest control can be effective, prevention is always better than cure — so reducing the quantity of rotting waste is key to minimising the sight of rats, mice and foxes. Replacing traditional waste management methods with technologies, that immediately remove and convert waste at source, is therefore a great way to elevate on-site hygiene and ward away pesky pests and vermin.
To reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill Every year, across the globe, an alarming 1.30bn tonnes of food is lost or wasted — but this figure could be dramatically reduced with the right waste disposal strategies.
Rethinking waste disposal methods, especially when it comes to food waste, is a step in the right direction, where the right solutions — like composting —can help to divert tonnes of food waste away from landfill.
To reinterpret the concept of waste In addition to seeking effective waste management solutions, organisations also focus attention on the prevention of waste.
However, for wastes that are unavoidable (such as food waste), businesses and FMs end up procuring items that are recyclable, which though are preferable, are still shipped off-site to be dealt with by a third party — clearly marking the conception of a growing carbon footprint onward and the point at which prevention is no longer possible. But what if the concept of ‘waste’ was never created in the first place?
By implementing solutions which convert waste into compost where it is generated, it never actually becomes ‘waste’ at all, but a valuable resource. By closing the loop on site, FMs can support corporate responsibility strategies, helping to reduce the environmental impact of their operations whilst bolstering commercial reputations.
https://tidyplanet.co.uk 42 | TOMORROW’S FM
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