Northamptonshire businesses urged to cut down waste

Posted 18 Jun 2012

Coinciding with National Recycle Week 2012 (18-24 June) Leading recycling company Viridor and environmental accreditation scheme Investors in the Environment (iiE) are calling all businesses, big and small, to review their waste management practices to see what else they could recycle, improving their environmental performance and save money.

Viridor is offering free of charge waste assessments to local businesses to identify their waste streams and look at ways of either preventing such waste or implementing and effective recycling system to reduce landfill and associated costs, which rise every year by £8 per tonne just in tax – currently landfill tax is set at £64 per tonne and is due to be £80 in 2014.

In addition, Viridor and iiE are hosting a series of seminars and site tours of its Materials Recycling Facility on Pilot Road, Corby on 19 July to raise awareness amongst the business community to increase landfill diversion through reuse and recycling of materials as well as exploring ways to prevent waste in the first place.

Investors in the Environment’s senior green business officer Kim Coley will be one of the presenters on the day. She will be giving examples of some ‘promotion worthy’ quick wins, some long term goals that don’t cost the earth as well as showcasing other iiE members’ case studies and savings including household names such as IKEA and Coca Cola and other small local businesses. Ms Coley said: “No business is too large or small to make a difference on waste and other green practices.”

Victor Perez-Mares, communications manager for Viridor, said: “Waste that needlessly ends up in landfill is costing businesses millions of pounds every year. We’re aiming to get more organisations and individuals thinking about the waste they produce and what actions they can take to reduce it, reuse it or recycle it – being green is good for business.”

The seminar and site tour will provide local businesses with an opportunity to see first-hand how Viridor transforms recyclables into raw materials for new products and packaging as well as giving them tips and hints on how to either start up or improve recycling in their businesses.

To book a free waste assessment or to register for the seminar and site tour in July, call 01536 403333 or email corbyorders@viridor.co.uk. Places are limited and allocated on a first come first serve basis.

NOTES:

Viridor’s top ten tips for making the most of your business recycling are:

• Audit all your waste and establish what can be reduced and recycled
• Assign a recycling champion to take responsibility for the recycling project
• Post recycling rates on a wall to motivate staff to achieve more
• Try to bin the bin and remove general waste containers as much as possible
• Make sure recycling bins are clearly labelled so people know where to put different materials – Viridor recommends the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) colour coding system as it is easy to understand
• Put recycling bins in a clean environment
• Avoid printing emails if you don’t have to
• Lead by example
• Reward positive examples of recycling initiatives
• Print on both sides to reduce the amount of paper you use

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