Reducing your commercial waste
The cost of waste
Did you know…
- Each year, the average office worker produces more than two and a half times his or her own body weight in rubbish - over two million tonnes across the UK.
- Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are responsible for 70% of all the pollution produced by the commercial sector in the UK.
Are you making a purchase at your business?
Listed below are the types of questions which you may wish to consider when making a purchase:
- Is the purchase of the product necessary?
- Is the product recyclable?
- Is the resource readily renewable?
- Does the manufacturing process cause unnecessary pollution?
- Is the packaging wasteful/excessive?
- Does the product carry a recognised environmental label?
- Is the product energy efficient?
The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, via its Re-use and Recycling policy, promotes waste reduction, re-use, recycling and energy recovery over disposal in landfill.
The Council is currently trialling a commercial recycling collection service for mixed glass, paper, and cardboard. In addition, the Council is committed to the continuation and development of the grant aid system through which local schools and community groups receive funding from recycling surpluses for environmental improvement projects. Over £500,000 has been awarded to date.
EcoAction works with local schools, businesses and the wider community to encourage waste reduction, re-use, and recycling. Initiatives include a successful educational programme, a series of exhibitions and competitions, and the popular Scrapstore scheme, a service offered free of charge to borough schools, colleges and residents. EcoAction is keen to hear from local businesses that can donate scrap materials suitable for re-use in children's play and art projects.
Why reduce waste?
The Government is currently producing a National Waste Strategy, and, increasingly, measures are being introduced which support sustainable waste management:
- The 1990 Environmental Protection Act Duty of Care, imposed on persons who produce, import, carry, treat or dispose of controlled waste, requiring those persons to ensure that it is managed properly and recovered or disposed of safely. Penalties for breaching the Duty of Care include unlimited fines and imprisonment;
- The Landfill Tax, introduced under the 1996 Finance Act, which will affect all waste generated by commercial and domestic activities, in line with the Government's 'Producer Pays Principle'. It is estimated that the additional cost to commerce and industry will be in the region of 2.1 million per year;
- The Packaging Directive, which became law in March 1997. This demands that businesses recover and recycle a percentage of packaging waste.
Draft legislation is also emerging at a European level, encouraging the recycling and reuse of tyres, batteries, electrical and electronic equipment, end of life vehicles, and paper.
Legislation can be seen as a spur to innovation - there's a strong case for regulating early and anticipating coming regulations, to be in a good position to export goods and services to other countries as they inevitably adopt their own tighter standards. Environmental technologies will be a growth market in the next century, and Japan, Germany, the US and Scandinavia, who realise this, are currently cornering the market in systems for minimising waste and pollution, and creating jobs into the bargain.
There are many ways that your business can benefit by minimising waste: by reducing production costs through more efficient use of raw materials; by reducing disposal costs; by using your improved environmental performance as a marketing tool; and by inspiring renewed enthusiasm in your workforce by tapping into increasing interest in environmental issues. In addition, some banks are now extending their interpretation of environmental credit risk to include the risk that a company's product will no longer be wanted by society in future decades because of its environmental impact.