Waste Efficiency – specialists in waste management for engineering

When it comes to waste, the Engineering Sector has always been ahead of the game.  Quite simply, raw materials are just too expensive to waste - so most engineers have always worked to eliminate waste from the offset.  Indeed, it’s a sign of great design, that manufacturing waste is literally “engineered out” as much as possible.

But regardless of how excellent a design may be, there will always be some sort of waste.   And it’s the disposal – or even sale – of waste that can make the difference between profit and loss.  Environmentally friendly or environmentally hazardous.

Back to before 2000…

Incredibly, it was only ten years ago that most companies simply landfilled their waste, with some cursory attempts to recycle cardboard. As time passed greater awareness of the benefits of recycling coupled with the impact of the landfill tax escalator drove manufacturers and engineering companies to seek recycling options for more waste streams.

Due to the fragmented nature of the recycling infrastructure in the UK, these “waste producers” found themselves inadvertently dealing with a wide variety of suppliers and coping with the complexity this entailed.

To provide a solution for this conundrum the ‘Total Waste Management’ (TWM) package was created by the industry.

Waste Efficiency took TWM to the next stage. In our model, recycling and waste management services are delivered with trained on site personnel provided to handle, segregate and bale the materials. Reporting of all waste management data is provided, real time on line and programmes are constructed and delivered to achieve zero landfill.  An approach that clearly delivers a good deal of value to the client.

The future -  goodbye to Total Waste Management?

With companies facing up to the reality of the Carbon Reduction Commitment and ever-greater environmental awareness by their customer base, they are rightly beginning to want more from their waste management.

Over the past few years, Waste Efficiency has been working to replace the TWM with a sustainable alternative.

… and hello to Sustainable Resource Management

Now Waste Efficiency’s Sustainable Resource Management (SRM) package, operates with two key factors:  finding appropriate homes for the waste materials AND accounting for the sustainability of the service.  Whether or not a material is recycled is replaced by where it is recycled and how sustainable the recycling process is. The name of the service has been chosen to reflect the fact that we see surplus materials as a resource rather than waste, a sentiment that we see reflected more and more by our customers.

At its most basic this favours the shipping of cardboard to a local mill over shipping it to China.

At its more complex it compares the carbon footprint of different recycling technologies or even recycling facilities to ascertain the most environmentally advantageous route.

The principals of sustainable waste management are already in use in some areas of industry where the’ Proximity Principal’ and ‘Best Practical Environmental Option (BPEO)’ are used when deciding of most appropriate location for recycling facilities.

Meaningful reporting. Sustaining resources.  Reducing costs.

Waste Efficiency SRM Customers receive data on the carbon footprint of their service, and are already working in a sustainable way to drive down waste and enhance meaningful reporting to their board, shareholders and customers.

Customers have unparalleled access to the real impact their waste management is having on the environment and strategies to reduce it. As customer attitudes and their requirements change, so must the services to support them with the result that the time has come for total waste management to make way for a new sustainable breed of service.

Case-studies and reports

To learn more about Waste Efficiency’s Sustainable Resource Management service and how it can impact your business please call 0844 2640500.