WASTE MANAGEMENT FEBRUARY 2020
A CLEAR PATH Grundon’s James Standen
Water fi lter manufacturer, BRITA, has streamlined its
complicated waste streams to achieve zero waste to landfi ll
BY CHRIS BECK
Manufacturer BRITA UK was recently
awarded a prestigious Silver Green
Apple Award (pictured, below right)
for Environmental Best Practice
in the Products and Recycling
Wastes Management category. At
the company’s UK headquarters in Bicester,
Oxfordshire, it produces millions of water fi lter
cartridges a year for distribution worldwide.
BRITA has worked with waste management
services provider Grundon Waste Management
since 2014, a partnership that achieved almost
instant results after an initial waste audit
identifi ed 30 diff erent waste streams – including
silicon labels, polystyrene and packing paper –
that could be recycled or reprocessed alongside
more ‘traditional’ materials such as cardboard,
paper and plastic.
The move meant as well as segregating these
items from general waste, the company could earn
rebates to be off set against other waste services.
The new waste regime
enabled BRITA UK to quickly
gain zero waste to landfi ll
status and other initiatives
followed, including the launch
of a Green Team of waste
champions – still going strong
six years later.
Every year, the company
holds an annual Waste Training
Day for staff , which has
included a visit to Viridor’s
Energy Recovery Facility
(left) discusses recycling with
Bryan Edwards of BRITA
(EFR) at nearby Ardley, where
BRITA’s remaining general
waste is processed to generate
renewable energy.
New waste containers were
installed to boost segregation,
including an enclosed, lockable
compactor to avoid the disposal
of non-conforming waste;
while in the offi ces, underdesk
bins were removed and
replaced with clearly labelled
bin stations.
As a result, fi gures show
that in the four years from
2015-2018, Grundon helped
BRITA achieve the following
eco-savings:
8,772 trees saved;
204,656 kilograms of carbon
dioxide saved;
110.36 MWh of power
generated.
At the same time, there has
been a signifi cant reduction in
the number of waste vehicle
collections, further helped
by the fact that all Grundon’s
waste vehicles are certifi ed
205k
kilograms of CO2
were saved by BRITA
in just four years
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