FOCUS WASTE MANAGEMENT
Do you expect to see your compliance-related budgets change
over the next year, and if so how much do you expect them to
rise or fall?
Increase moderately 45.99%
Stay the same 33.33%
Increase substantially 11.81%
Decrease moderately 8.02%
Decrease substantially 0.84%
COSTS OF COLLECTION
In previous years, the cost of collection and disposal has been ranked
as third most important factor when making a waste management
decision, however in 2020, this dropped to fi h place. We asked the
panel, why is this? Is it due to increased budgets, or are there other
factors, for instance internal pressures either from management or
the workforce to be more sustainable?
It was suggested that the reason that cost has dropped down the
agenda is that FMs would prioritise high quality service delivery
that ensures they meet compliance, and will pay more for a good
and compliant service. The panel also agreed that service delivery
is seen as part of the “value you get from your provider, with the
reassurance that this will keep you compliant being ahead over cost
and collection.
Another interesting point was that FM is slightly di erent from
other sectors, in that in some sectors customers just want their
bins emptied, but FM is unique in that it looks beyond that to
environment issues. There is transparency on how waste is treated
and this is shared back to the workforce.
It was also suggested that there is more value placed on recycling
rates now due to corporate targets. One FM chose their service
provider when they agreed to “help us with the reduce piece of the
three R’s which sit at the top of the waste hierarchy (Reduce, Reuse,
Recycle). This was when we knew they were committed, as it’s
actually counter intuitive to them to reduce the amount of actual
waste for collection.”
Is there an expectation within your organisation that a good
waste management service…
30 OCTOBER 2020
2020
1 will deliver improved environmental credentials 56.87%
2 will save you money 23.22%
3 will cost you more money 11.37%
4 will earn you rebates on reprocessing and recycling 4.27%
5 won’t make a di erence 4.27%
It was also agreed that FMs are customer facing, whether internal
or external so don’t necessarily look to pay the highest cost but are
experienced enough to know the lowest cost doesn’t mean you’re
getting the best from your supplier.
Commented a panellist: “If I’m in a board meeting and say the
recycling has gone up I need to prove how that has been achieved.
I can only do that by getting information from a supplier who is
partnering with us and you can do that only if you have worked with
the right supplier. They may not be the cheapest but the best and
we’ll pay for that level of engagement.”
ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTING
In this year’s survey it emerged that nearly 60 per cent of those
surveyed were required to produce regular environmental reports
and digging deeper into that when we asked about frequency –
there was at least an annual duty. Respondents also told us that
monthly and quarterly reports from their waste management
provider was usually required for reports. Interestingly, when we
also asked about how waste management reporting can be used
in a positive way to proactively promote waste management with
CSR and good news stories, only about 40 per cent were utilising the
data.
If you are required to produce environmental reports, how o en
are you required to do so?
N/A 40.71%
Annually 22.12%
Monthly 19.47%
Quarterly 11.06%
Every six months 3.98%
Weekly 2.65%
Explained Foxlee-Brown: “We’re aiming to promote our internal
sustainability credentials by producing an engagement tool with
our sta , that explores how we use energy, how we use water,
our recycling rates etc., and we’ve worked with a partner called
Greenredeem who have an engagement platform which can be used
to inform our stakeholders how sites are performing. This process
has thrown up a lot of questions on how we better engage and
educate our employees and how we in turn can translate that to our
customers.”
When it comes to promoting sustainability however, we asked the
panel, has waste and recycling moved right down the agenda due
to wellbeing and infection control being so central?
The consensus from our panel was very positive, that the
lockdown has enabled them to take a breath to reappraise
sustainability strategies, with the conclusion being that recycling
and reuse as a proportion of overall waste is still a very valid
message to communicate to their teams. Said one participant:
“One of the nudges we’ll use when we go back is to have pictures of
little kids rather than seagulls next to our recycling bins.”
And while the CSR reports for this year may all be impacted by
the pandemic, it was agreed that, with many sta still working
remotely, most FMs are not going to be able to show continual
improvement in recycling rates, but it’s still an important part of
their remit.
THE PANEL
Sara Bean, Editor FMJ
Anthony Foxlee-Brown, Head of Marketing and Communications, Grundon
Waste Management
Owen George, Strategic Development Manager, Grundon Waste Management
Ian Wade, Head of UK Estates, British Medical Association
Charles Siddons, Head of FM Operations, NHS Property Services Ltd
Ross Jen, Facilities Team Leader, Campden BRI Group
David Bauld, Group Facilities Manager, Paradigm Housing Group
Jan Portch, O ice Manager, Landsec’s London-based Head O ice
Brett Parker, Head of Property, Gail’s Bakery
Alan Hutchinson, Facilities Director, Howard Kennedy LLP
Vicky Thorp, Head of Facilities Management, CLSH Management