Cost savings through better management of waste

A client in the Facilities Management sector had recently won a large contract to manage over 200 office buildings and retail sites throughout the UK. Recycling Intelligence was retained to undertake a comprehensive review of waste and recycling services across the existing estate and the newly acquired portfolio. After a detailed desk-top analysis of services, contractors and costs, a plan was formulated to reduce the number of service providers to 1 core supplier whilst driving cost. To date, the single service supplier now operates at over 97% of the managed locations and cost savings are in excess of the planned savings. Phase 2 of the project, to improve recycling rates and rationalise waste services, is due to commence shortly.

Reduce reliance on landfill

Recycling Intelligence approached a client in the horticultural sector who manufacturers hydroponic growing medium for the horticultural industry. Many growers of salad crops use a rockwool growing medium to improve plant yields and prevent disease, but the material is difficult to handle at the end of the growing season and the majority gets sent to landfill. In the UK as a whole, over 20,000 tonnes of rockwool growing media is used each year. Working with the manufacturer, a solution was put in place to process the waste horticultural rockwool to recover the inert rockwool content for reuse in the production of new rockwool growing medium or in the construction industry. The solution required significant dialogue with the Environment Agency, including their approval of a new waste exemption. The first year of the scheme was very successful and we look forward to even greater participation in year 2.

Better recycling techniques

A client in the animal feed sector commissioned Recycling Intelligence to review the waste that they were sending to landfill. They had recently updated their environmental policy and were concerned that they could be doing more to recover and recycle their waste arisings.

The client was baling their waste cardboard but was not receiving a competitive rate. Recycling Intelligence was able to improve the rebate paid for this material. The client also produced several thousand tonnes of a very small packaging waste fraction that was too small to recycle. After investigating the market, Recycling Intelligence was able to find a non-landfill solution by transporting the packaging confetti to a producer of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF). This solution saved the company almost 25% in disposal costs and removed 100% of the waste from landfill. Equally as importantly, the client will no longer have to pay the annual landfill tax increases.

Bespoke waste and recycling solutions

To enable clients to improve the handling of waste materials and to present those materials in the most cost effective format for recovery, recycling or disposal, the client is often required to purchase or lease specialist handling equipment. It is very important that the equipment acquired is fit for purpose and suited to the material being handled. Recycling intelligence has very good relationships with some of the highest quality equipment manufacturers in the industry, enabling the client to benefit from robust and cost effective equipment such as balers, compactors, shredders and crushers.

A number of the case studies above derived benefit from acquiring some specialist capital equipment. By baling cardboard, the facilities management company was able to remove this material from the waste stream at some of its locations, turning it into a revenue generating material. The waste collection costs were reduced by acquiring a number of waste and recycling compactors, improving transport payloads by up to 400%. The client, who is in the animal feed sector, is now looking to make use of shredding equipment to maximise how much material it sends to RDF, reducing its landfill burden even further.